Expression of the Calpastatin Gene Segment During Spermiogenesis in Human Testis: An in Situ Hybridization Study

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Abstract
Serum obtained from an infertile woman contained antibodies that agglutinate human sperm. The antibodies interacted with a sperm protein with an estimated Mr of 17.5 kD. The cDNA coding the 17.5-kD protein was isolated from a human testis Λgill expression library and identified as a segment of the calpastatin gene. Single-stranded 35S-labeled RNA probes were prepared from the calpastatin cDNA segment. Using the techniques of in situ hybridization, the calpastatin mRNA was located in spermatids of human testis. The results support a previous observation that the calpastatin segment is produced during spermiogenesis and suggest that transcription of the calpastatin gene occurred during the postmeiotic haploid stage of spermatogenesis.