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Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on June 13, 2007
Molecular Human Reproduction 2007 13(8):549-556; doi:10.1093/molehr/gam038
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

APEX/Ref-1 (apurinic/apyrimidic endonuclease DNA-repair gene) expression in human and ascidian (Ciona intestinalis) gametes and embryos *

Said El-Mouatassim1,{dagger}, Stefania Bilotto2,3,{dagger}, Gian Luigi Russo2,3, Elisabetta Tosti2 and Yves Menezo4,5

1 Laboratoire Marcel Mérieux, Avenue Tony Garnier, Lyon, France 2 Stazione Zoologica ‘Anton Dohrn’, 80121 Napoli, Italy 3 National Research Council, 83100 Avellino, Italy 4 Laboratoire d'Eylau/Unilabs, 55 Rue Saint Didier, 75116, Paris

5 Correspondence address. Laboratoire d'Eylau/Unilabs, 55 Rue Saint Didier, 75116 Paris. Tel: +33-6-28-25-25-74; Fax: +33-1-53-70-64-94; E-mail: yves.menezo{at}eylau.fr, yves.menezo{at}club-internet.fr

In recent years, the impact of sperm DNA damage on fertility has become an important issue. The different technologies developed to check sperm DNA fragmentation lead to the same conclusion: DNA damage negatively impacts upon reproductive processes. Oocyte DNA repair capacity is one of the cues to understanding embryo developmental arrest. APEX/Ref-1 (apurinic/apyrimidic endonuclease) is an enzyme involved in the DNA base excision repair pathway removing the abasic sites, the most common DNA decays. In humans, APEX has a multifunctional role, including the control of the redox status of transcription factors. RT–PCR allowed us to detect human APEX transcripts in oocytes, spermatozoa and preimplantation blocked embryos. In parallel, a comparative study on sea squirt Ciona intestinalis (ascidian) indicated that APEX transcripts are clearly detectable in oocytes and embryos until the larva stage, but not in spermatozoa, suggesting the appearance of the paternal contribution to DNA repair during development having arisen only late in Vertebrate evolution. Of additional phylogenetic significance is the observation that sea squirt APEX appears to lack redox transcriptional activity.

Key words: human/Ciona/APEX/Ref1/sperm/oocyte

* A part of this work was presented (oral presentation) at the 2004 ESHRE meeting in Berlin.

{dagger} These two authors equally contributed to the data presented.

Submitted on April 7, 2007; accepted on April 19, 2007.


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