Transgenic mouse sperm that have green acrosome and red mitochondria allow visualization of sperm and their acrosome reaction in vivo.
In the present paper, we introduce a transgenic mouse line whose sperm express green fluorescent protein (GFP) in their acrosome and red fluorescent protein (RFP) in their mitochondria [B6D2F1- Tg(CAG/su9-DsRed2, Acr3-EGFP)RBGS002Osb]. The dual fluorescent sperm showed normal fertilizing ability in both in vivo and in vitro fertilization and the sperm could be observed through uterine and oviductal walls when female reproductive tracts were dissected out and placed under excitation light. This characteristic could facilitate examination of sperm migration inside the female reproductive tract as well as facilitating in situ live imaging of the acrosome reaction, the details of which have remained elusive.
Genome Information Research Center, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University.
Hidetoshi
H
Hasuwa
Yuko
Y
Muro
Masahito
M
Ikawa
Noriko
N
Kato
Yoshihide
Y
Tsujimoto
Masaru
M
Okabe
D000177:Acrosome / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000502:physiology; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000737:chemistry*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000737:chemistry*; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein
D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein