The Ankyrin Repeat Domain 49 (ANKRD49) Augments Autophagy of Serum-Starved GC-1 Cells through the NF-κB Pathway

The ankyrin repeat domain 49 (ANKRD49) is an evolutionarily conserved protein highly expressed in testes. However, the function of ANKRD49 in spermatogenesis is unknown. In this study, we found that ANKRD49 resides primarily in nucleus of spermatogonia, spermatocytes and round spermatids. ANKRD49 overexpression augments starvation-induced autophagy in male germ GC-1 cells whereas shRNA knockdown of ANKRD49 attenuates the autophagy. Inhibition of NF-κB pathway by its inhibitors or p65 siRNA prevents the ANKRD49-dependent autophagy augmentation, demonstrating that ANKRD49 enhances autophagy via NF-κB pathway. Our findings suggest that ANKRD49 plays an important role in spermatogenesis via promotion of autophagy-dependent survival.