Figure 5. MEIOB is required for meiosis and fertility in mice of both sexes.
(a) Targeted inactivation of the Meiob gene. The mouse Meiob gene maps to Chromosome 17 and has 14 exons. Deletion of exons 6–10 (aa 111–293) is expected to cause a frame shift in the resulting transcript. (b) Absence of MEIOB protein in P18 Meiob−/− testis. (c) Significant size reduction in 8-wk-old Meiob−/− testis. (d, e) Histological analysis of 8-wk-old wild type and Meiob−/− testes. Abbreviations: Zyg, zygotene spermatocytes; Pa, pachytene spermatocytes; RS, round spermatids; ES, elongated spermatids. (f, g) TUNEL analysis of wild type and Meiob−/− seminiferous tubules. Note the large number of apoptotic cells (green) in Meiob−/− tubules. Scale bar (e, g), 25 µm. (h) Histological analysis of ovaries from adult wild type and Meiob−/− mice. Scale bar, 50 µm. (i–k) Progressive loss of oocytes in Meiob−/− ovaries. Frozen sections prepared from postnatal day 0, 1, and 2 wild type and Meiob−/− ovaries were immunolabeled with anti-YBX2 antibodies. (l) TUNEL analysis of P1 ovaries. Nuclear DNA (i–l) was counterstained with DAPI (blue). Scale bars (i–l), 50 µm.