Expression of Protein Kinase C Genes in Normal (+/+) and W Mutant Alleles (W^sh/W^sh, W/W^v) Mice Testes

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the expression of mRNA of protein kinase C (PKC) isoenzymes (α, β, γ, δ, ε, ξ, and θ) in normal (+/+) and W mutant alleles mice testes. In +/+ mice testes, abundant expression of PKCδ and PKCθ was observed, while other PKCs (α, β, γ, ε, ξ, and η) generally were not detected by Northern blotting. The PKCδ and PKCθ isoenzymes demonstrated a distinctive cellular distribution when evaluated by in situ hybridization. We have previously shown that PKCδ gene was selectively expressed in spermatid of +/+ testes. Here we show that PKCδ gene is also present in spermatid of W^sh/W^sh mice testes and PKCθ gene was present in interstitial cells of +/+, W^sh/W ^sh, and W/W^v mice testes. These studies provide the evidence of selective cell distributions of the PKC isoenzymes and suggest that PKC has the functional significance in testes.