ArticlePLoS biology2018
The zinc transporter ZIPT-7.1 regulates sperm activation in nematodes.
Article in PLoS biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- DDI-4 induces a temperature-sensitive exocytotic remodeling during C. elegans spermiogenesis via nsun-2-dependent sphingosine signaling.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Lysosome-related organelles employ divergent mechanisms to modulate cytosolic zinc homeostasis.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- The intrinsically disordered protein SPE-56 is required for acrosomal-like exocytosis and fertility in Caenorhabditis elegans.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Zinc excess promotes lysosome remodeling by activating HLH-30/TFEB through the action of the high zinc sensor HIZR-1.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Caenorhabditis elegans spe-21 gene that encodes a palmitoyltransferase is necessary for spermiogenesis.Developmental biology · 2025Article
- Stage-specific exposure of Caenorhabditis elegans to cadmium identifies unique transcriptomic response cascades and an uncharacterized cadmium responsive transcript.Metallomics : integrated biometal science · 2024Article
- Lysosome-related organelles contain an expansion compartment that mediates delivery of zinc transporters to promote homeostasis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- CaeNDR, the Caenorhabditis Natural Diversity Resource.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Research progress on the molecular structure, function, and application in tumor therapy of zinc transporter ZIP4.International journal of biological sciences · 2024Review
- SPE-51, a sperm-secreted protein with an immunoglobulin-like domain, is required for fertilization in C. elegans.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Spermiogenesis inBiomolecules · 2023Review
- Article
- Structural insights into the elevator-type transport mechanism of a bacterial ZIP metal transporter.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Spermatozoan Metabolism as a Non-Traditional Model for the Study of Huntington's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Zinc transporters ZIPT-2.4 and ZIPT-15 are required for normal C. elegans fecundity.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2022Article
- Zinc is an intracellular signal during sperm activation in Caenorhabditis elegans.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2021Article
- Subcellular patterns of SPE-6 localization reveal unexpected complexities in Caenorhabditis elegans sperm activation and sperm function.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Article
- SLC-30A9 is required for ZnProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- The molecular underpinnings of fertility: Genetic approaches inAdvanced genetics (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2021Article
- Selfing is the safest sex foreLife · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Sperm activation is a fascinating example of cell differentiation, in which immotile spermatids undergo a rapid and dramatic transition to become mature, motile sperm. Because the sperm nucleus is transcriptionally silent, this transition does not involve transcriptional changes. Although Caenorhabditis elegans is a leading model for studies of sperm activation, the mechanisms by which signaling pathways induce this transformation remain poorly characterized. Here we show that a conserved transmembrane zinc transporter, ZIPT-7.1, regulates the induction of sperm activation in Caenorhabditis nematodes. The zipt-7.1 mutant hermaphrodites cannot self-fertilize, and males reproduce poorly, because mutant spermatids are defective in responding to activating signals. The zipt-7.1 gene is expressed in the germ line and functions in germ cells to promote sperm activation. When expressed in mammalian cells, ZIPT-7.1 mediates zinc transport with high specificity and is predominantly located on internal membranes. Finally, genetic epistasis places zipt-7.1 at the end of the spe-8 sperm activation pathway, and ZIPT-7.1 binds SPE-4, a presenilin that regulates sperm activation. Based on these results, we propose a new model for sperm activation. In spermatids, inactive ZIPT-7.1 is localized to the membranous organelles, which contain higher levels of zinc than the cytoplasm. When sperm activation is triggered, ZIPT-7.1 activity increases, releasing zinc from internal stores. The resulting increase in cytoplasmic zinc promotes the phenotypic changes characteristic of activation. Thus, zinc signaling is a key step in the signal transduction process that mediates sperm activation, and we have identified a zinc transporter that is central to this activation process.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.