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First published online June 20, 2006
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/jcs.03022

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Interplay of PIWI/Argonaute protein MIWI and kinesin KIF17b in chromatoid bodies of male germ cells

Noora Kotaja¹, Haifan Lin², Martti Parvinen³ and Paolo Sassone-Corsi^1,*,

¹ Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, B.P. 10142, 67404 Illkirch-Strasbourg, France
² Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, PO Box 3709, Durham, NC 27710, USA
³ Department of Anatomy, University of Turku, FIN-20520, Turku, Finland

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: psc{at}uci.edu)

Accepted 20 April 2006

Chromatoid bodies are thought to act as male-germ-cell-specific platforms for the storing and processing of haploid transcripts. The molecular mechanisms governing the formation and function of these germ-cell-specific structures have remained elusive. In this study, we show that the kinesin motor protein KIF17b, which is involved in the nucleocytoplasmic transport of RNA and of a transcriptional coactivator, localizes in chromatoid bodies. The chromatoid body moves actively and non-randomly in the cytoplasm of round spermatids, making frequent contacts with the nuclear envelope. The localization of KIF17b thereby offers a potential mechanism for microtubule-dependent mobility of chromatoid bodies, as well as for the transport of the specific components in and out of the chromatoid body. Interestingly, we demonstrate that KIF17b physically interacts with a testis-specific member of the PIWI/Argonaute family, MIWI, a component of chromatoid bodies implicated in RNA metabolism. A functional interplay between KIF17b and MIWI might be needed for the loading of haploid RNAs in the chromatoid body. Importantly, chromatoid bodies from round spermatids of miwi-null mice are not fully compacted and remain as a diffuse chromatoid material, revealing the essential role played by MIWI in the formation of chromatoid bodies. These results shed new light on the function of chromatoid bodies in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in haploid germ cells.

Key words: Spermatogenesis, Chromatoid body, MIWI, Kinesin, RNA processing

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