| Pattern | SPE-5 expression apparently occurs at a very low level or was somehow partly masked, so long exposures (~20 minutes) were required to visualize it in whole worm lysates, where a band appears in fem-3gf worms that contain sperm but is missing in fem-1lf worms that never contain sperm (data not shown). The SPE-5 protein is more prominent and easily detected (exposure times of less than 1 minute) in purified sperm (>90% spermatids) that were isolated from fem-3gf worms. | Primary Identifier | Expr9998 |
| Subcellular Localization | SPE-5 expression was coincident with spermatocytes, where it was distributed throughout the cytoplasm and excluded from the nucleus. A faint mottled pattern was observed in the cytoplasm, suggestive of punctate staining. During meiosis I, SPE-5 appears distributed throughout the cytoplasm, some of it in discrete dots. SPE-5 staining is observed in both spermatids and the residual body, and much of the staining in both regions is in discrete dots. Budded spermatids have distinct secretory membranous organelles (MO) just below their plasma membrane. Most of the SPE-5 signal is also localized near the plasma membrane, much of it as discrete dots that are adjacent to MOs. In certain favorable regions, it appears that there is one green dot per MO. These observations indicate that SPE-5 is located near the MO secretory vesicles of spermatids, consistent with mediating MO acidification. |
| Definition | Name | Synonym | Primary Identifier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male haploid germ cell. | sperm | spermatozoa | WBbt:0006798 |
| A cell which gives rise to spermatids by meiosis. | spermatocyte | WBbt:0006799 |
| WormBase Gene ID | Gene Name | Sequence Name | Organism |
|---|---|---|---|
| WBGene00004959 | spe-5 | Y110A7A.12 | Caenorhabditis elegans |
