ABSTRACT
This study arose from our finding that SubH2Bv, a histone H2B variant residing in the subacrosomal compartment of mammalian spermatozoa, contains a bipartite nuclear localization signal (bNLS) but in spite of this did not enter the spermatid nucleus. Instead, it associated with proacrosomic and acrosomic vesicles, which were targeted to the nuclear surface to form the acrosome. On this basis we proposed that SubH2Bv targets proacrosomic/acrosomic vesicles from the Golgi apparatus to the nuclear envelope by utilizing the classical bipartite/karyopherin alpha (KPNA) nuclear import pathway. To test the protein's nuclear targeting ability, SubH2Bv, with and without targeted mutations of the basic residues of bNLS, as well as bNLS alone, were transfected into mammalian cells as GFP-fusion proteins. Only the intact bNLS conferred nuclear entry. Subsequently, we showed that a KPNA, most likely KPNA6, occupies the same sperm head compartment and follows the same pattern of acrosomal association during spermiogenesis as SubH2Bv. Sperm head fractionation combined with Western blotting located this KPNA to the subacrosomal layer of the perinuclear theca, while immunocytochemistry of testicular sections showed that it associates with the surface of proacrosomic/acrosomic vesicles during acrosomal biogenesis. The identical sperm-localization and testicular-expression patterns between KPNA and SubH2Bv suggested a potential binding interaction between these proteins. This was supported by recombinant SubH2Bv affinity pull-down assays on germ cell extracts. The results of this study provide a compelling argument that these two nuclear homing proteins work in concert to direct the acrosomic vesicle to the nucleus. Their final residence in the subacrosomal layer of the perinuclear theca of spermatozoa indicates a role for SubH2Bv and KPNA in acrosomal-nuclear docking.
