Characterization and functional analysis of phospholipase C-zeta, a candidate of mammalian egg-activating sperm factor

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Repetitive transient increase in intracellular Ca^<2+> concentration ([Ca^<2+>]_i) called Ca^<2+> oscillations occur at fertilization of mammalian eggs, and trigger egg activation. Each [Ca^<2+>]_i rise is due to Ca^<2+> release from the endoplasmic reticulum mainly through inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP_3) receptors. Evidence indicates that Ca^<2+> oscillations are caused by cytosolic sperm factor driven into the ooplasm upon sperm-egg fusion. The Ca^<2+> oscillation-inducing factor is the egg-activating protein (EAP). A current strong candidate of EAP is a novel isozyme of IP_3-producing enzyme, phospholipase C-zeta (PLCζ). This study aims to characterize PLCζ and confirm whether PLCζ operates as EAP at fertilization. The following results were obtained. 1) Injection of recombinant PLCζ that was synthesized by baculovirus/Sf9 cell expression system induced Ca^<2+> oscillations in mouse eggs at low concentrations. 2) PLCζ has such a high Ca^<2+>-sensitivity of PLC activity that the … More enzyme can be active in resting cells at 〜100 nM [Ca^<2+>]_i, suitable for a putative EAP to be introduced into the egg at fertilization. 3) The N-terminal EF-hand domain 1 (EF1) and EF2 are important for the PLCζ activity, and EF3 is responsible for its high Ca^<2+> sensitivity. 4) C2 domain has substantial affinity to PI(3)P and, to the lesser extent, to PI(5)P. 5) Ca^<2+> oscillations were induced by injection of RNA encoding PLCζ fused with a fluorescent protein "Venus". The expressed PLCζ corresponded to the estimated amount contained in a single spermatozoon. 6) Expressed PLCζtranslocated into the formed pronucleus. 7) The nuclear localization signal was located at the X-Y linker region of PLCζ molecule. A highly coordinated three-dimensional structure involving a folding in the middle is thought to be required for not only Ca^<2+> oscillation-inducing activity but also nuclear translocation ability. These results support PLCζ as a strong candidate of EAP. To confirm whether PLCζ operates as EAP at fertilization, PLCζ-knockout mice were produced, and PLCζ-transgenic mice were prepared for reserve PLCζ in the knockout mice sperm. Less