Mouse D1Pas1, a DEAD-box RNA helicase, is required for the completion of first meiotic prophase in male germ cells

D1Pas1 is a mouse autosomal DEAD-box RNA helicase expressed predominantly in the testis. To assess its possible function, we generated D1Pas1-deficient mice using embryonic stem cells with a targeted D1Pas1 allele. Deletion of D1Pas1 did not cause noticeable embryonic defects or death, indicating that D1Pas1 is not essential for embryogenesis. Whereas homozygous knockout female mice showed normal reproductive performance, homozygous knockout male mice were completely sterile. The seminiferous epithelium of D1Pas1-deficient males contained no spermatids or spermatozoa because of spermatogenic arrest at the late pachytene stage. Upregulation of retrotransposons such as LINE-1 was not found in D1Pas1-deficient males, unlike males lacking Mvh, another testicular DEAD-box RNA helicase. Meiotic chromosome behavior in developing spermatocytes of D1Pas1-deficient males was indistinguishable from that in wild-type males, at least until synaptonemal complex formation. Thus, mouse D1Pas1 is the first-identified DEAD-box RNA helicase that plays critical roles in the final step of the first meiotic prophase in male germ cells.