Sperm induction of somatic cell-cell fusion as a novel functional test

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Abstract

The fusion of mammalian gametes requires the interaction between IZUMO1 on the sperm and JUNO on the oocyte. We have recently shown that ectopic expression of mouse IZUMO1 induces cell-cell fusion and that sperm can fuse to fibroblasts expressing JUNO. Here, we found that the incubation of mouse sperm with hamster fibroblasts or human epithelial cells in culture induces the fusion between these somatic cells and formation of syncytia, a pattern previously observed with some animal viruses. This sperm-induced cell-cell fusion requires a species-matching JUNO on both fusing cells, can be blocked by an antibody against IZUMO1, and does not rely on the synthesis of new proteins. The fusion is dependent on the sperm's fusogenic capacity, making this a reliable, fast and simple method for predicting sperm function during the diagnosis of male infertility.

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In all figures individual data is plotted. The raw data for the correlation analysis is found in Supplementary file 1.

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Nicolas G Brukman

Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

For correspondence
nbrukman@gmail.com

Competing interests
Nicolas G Brukman, is an inventor on a patent application filed by the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology (US Provisional Patent Application No.532 63/466748)., based on this work..

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9865-2503
Clari Valansi

Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

Competing interests
Clari Valansi, is an inventor on a patent application filed by the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology (US Provisional Patent Application No..
Benjamin Podbilewicz

Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

For correspondence
podbilew@technion.ac.il

Competing interests
Benjamin Podbilewicz, is an inventor on a patent application filed by the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology (US Provisional Patent Application No..

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0411-4182

Funding

Israel Science Foundation (257/17)

Benjamin Podbilewicz

Israel Science Foundation (2462/18)

Benjamin Podbilewicz

Israel Science Foundation (2327/19)

Benjamin Podbilewicz

Israel Science Foundation (178/20)

Benjamin Podbilewicz

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (844807)

Nicolas G Brukman

Direccion General de Asuntos del Personal Academico, Programa de Estancias de Investigacion , UNAM

Benjamin Podbilewicz

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal studies were approved by the Committee on theEthics of Animal Experiments of the Technion - Israel Instituteof Technology.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.