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Mitochondrial DNA content of mature spermatozoa and oocytes in the genetic model Drosophila

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Abstract

Although crucial to the success of fertilization and embryogenesis, little is known about the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content of mature spermatozoa and oocytes across taxa and across different fertilization systems. Oocytes are assumed to hold a large population of mtDNAs that populate emerging cells during early embryogenesis, whereas spermatozoa harbor only a limited pool of mtDNAs that is believed to sustain functionality but fails to contribute paternal mtDNA to the zygote. Recent work suggests that mature sperm of the genetic model Drosophila melanogaster lack mtDNA, questioning the significance of zygotic mechanisms for the selective elimination of paternal mtDNA and their necessity for fertilization success. This finding further contradicts previous observations of the inheritance of paternal mtDNA in drosophilids. Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction, we estimate the mtDNA content of several laboratory strains of D. melanogaster and D. simulans to shed light on this discrepancy and to describe the mitochondrial/mtDNA load of gametes within this system. These measurements led to an average estimate of 22.91±4.61 mtDNA molecules/copies per spermatozoon across both species and to 1.07E+07±2.71E+06 molecules/copies per oocyte for D. simulans. As a consequence, the ratio of paternal and maternal mtDNA in the zygote was estimated at 1:4.65E+05.

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Acknowledgments

We thank members of the laboratory for valuable feedback on the manuscript. We also thank Carolina Correa for providing primers, Daniel Masiga for facilitating the collection of D. simulans in Kenya, OzDros (the Australian Drosophila Biomedical Research Support Facility) for enabling the import of D. simulans, Bill Sherwin for supplying D. melanogaster wildtypes from Hunter Valley, David Clancy for providing D. melanogaster w 1118 and Tran Huynh for assisting with the DAPI staining of sperm nuclei.

Funding Seed funding from the Food for 21st Century Program of the University of Missouri to P.S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Jonci Nikolai Wolff & John William Oman Ballard

  2. Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Jonci Nikolai Wolff

  3. Division of Animal Sciences, and Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

    Peter Sutovsky

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  1. Jonci Nikolai Wolff
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  2. Peter Sutovsky
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  3. John William Oman Ballard
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Correspondence to Jonci Nikolai Wolff.

Additional information

This research was supported by a Discovery Project grant (DP110104542) of the Australian Research Council (to J.W.O.B., J.N.W., and P.S.). J.N.W. is the recipient of an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (DP110104542).

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Wolff, J.N., Sutovsky, P. & Ballard, J.W.O. Mitochondrial DNA content of mature spermatozoa and oocytes in the genetic model Drosophila . Cell Tissue Res 353, 195–200 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-013-1628-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-013-1628-4

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