Phenotypic and molecular characterization of Spe-43, a gene required for Caenorhabditis elegans spermiogenesis

The reproduction of a genetically distinct new organism is a delicate and tightly regulated process. It requires a lot of molecular interactions and time-coordinated events. Before the fertilization process takes place, both male and female gametes need to properly develop and be fully capable to find one another, fuse, and promote the transition into a developing embryo. Different types of research performed in Caenorhabtidis elegans and Ascaris suum have helped provide a fairly clear picture of the cellular components and processes necessary for sperm development and differentiation. Still, some of the molecular mechanisms for these processes collectively known as spermatogenesis and spermiogenesis, are not fully understood. For those purposes, this thesis elucidates a new gene member required for C. elegans spermiogenesis: spe-43(eb63). The first chapter of this thesis provides an introduction to the importance of C. elegans fertility research and its impact on modern society reproductive technologies. Also in this chapter we will review some basic knowledge about the C. elegans reproductive world such as gender, reproductive tract, gamete development, nematode sperm, spermatogenesis, spermiogenesis and fertilization. The second chapter of the present work outlines the phenotypic and partial molecular characterization of the spe-43 gene. This new gene belongs to a family of genes called the spe-8 group, which they all interact in a specific spermiogenesis pathway of the C. elegans. This spermiogenesis process is not only critical for sperm development and fertilization in C. elegans, but represents a unique and important model both for the study of differentiation without de novo protein synthesis, cell maturation, cell mobility and for the evolutionary development of an androdioecious species from a gonochoristic one.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Ernesto R. Mende