p125/Sec23ip is a phospholipase A(1)-like protein that interacts with Sec23, a coat component of COPII vesicles that bud from endoplasmic reticulum exit sites. To understand its physiological function, we produced p125 knockout mice. The p125 knockout mice grew normally, but males were subfertile. Sperm from p125-deficient mice had round heads and lacked the acrosome, an organelle containing the enzymes responsible for fertilization. p125 was found to be expressed at stages I-XII of spermatogenesis, similar to the expression pattern of proteins involved in acrosome biogenesis. These results suggest that p125 plays an important role in spermiogenesis.
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