Gonadal apoptosis during sex reversal of the rice field eel: implications for an evolutionarily conserved role of the molecular chaperone heat shock protein 10

Abstract

Role of apoptosis in gonadal transformation of the rice field eel remains unknown. Here we report characterization of apoptotic pattern of testis, ovary, and ovotestis of the rice field eel, a vertebrate with natural sex reversal characteristic. DNA laddering assay showed typical ladder with step around 200 bp in the gonads, especially in testis. Terminal transferase dUTP nick end labeling on gonads indicated obvious apoptotic signals in the seminiferous tubules. Western blot analysis revealed that pro-apoptotic genes, Caspase 9 and p53, were upregulated and anti-apoptotic factor Bcl2 was downregulated in testis compared with both ovary and ovotestis. These data indicated that sex reversal process is accompanied by gonadal apoptosis with the highest proportion of cell death in the testis. Furthermore, we identified the Hsp10 by differentially screening of testis, ovary, and ovotestis using microarray technique, which is evolutionarily conserved and differentially expressed during gonadal transformation. Downregulation of Hsp10 is consistent with high apoptosis during the gonadal transformation. Flow cytometry assay confirmed that Hsp10 inhibits the apoptosis in male gonadal cells. Moreover, upregulation and mis-localization at sub-cellular level of the HSP10 together with its partner HSP60 is associated with tumorigenesis in human testis. These results suggest that downregulation of Hsp10 would be one of the main causes of apoptosis in testis, overexpression of Hsp10 suppresses apoptosis, and potentially results in testis tumorigenesis, which provide clues for understanding the mechanisms of germ cell apoptosis. Development of Hsp10 as a diagnostic marker or even treatment target will be promising in testis cancer diagnosis and therapy.