Abstract
One of the key events during spermiogenesis is the hypercondensation of chromatin by substitution of the majority of histones by protamines. In humans and mice, protamine 1 (PRM1/Prm1) and protamine 2 (PRM2/Prm2) are expressed in a species-specific ratio. Using CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing, we generated Prm1-deficient mice and demonstrated that Prm1+/- mice were subfertile, whereas Prm1-/- mice were infertile. Prm1-/- and Prm2-/- sperm showed high levels of reactive oxygen species-mediated DNA damage and increased histone retention. In contrast, Prm1+/- sperm displayed only moderate DNA damage. The majority of Prm1+/- sperm were CMA3 positive, indicating protamine-deficient chromatin, although this was not the result of increased histone retention in Prm1+/- sperm. However, sperm from Prm1+/- and Prm1-/- mice contained high levels of incompletely processed PRM2. Furthermore, the PRM1:PRM2 ratio was skewed from 1:2 in wild type to 1:5 in Prm1+/- animals. Our results reveal that PRM1 is required for proper PRM2 processing to produce mature PRM2, which, together with PRM1, is able to hypercondense DNA. Thus, the species-specific PRM1:PRM2 ratio has to be precisely controlled in order to retain full fertility.