Ttll9-/- mice sperm flagella show shortening of doublet 7, reduction of doublet 5 polyglutamylation and a stall in beating

Nine outer doublet microtubules in axonemes of flagella and cilia are heterogeneous in structure and biochemical properties. In mammalian sperm flagella, one of the factors to generate the heterogeneity is tubulin polyglutamylation, although the importance of the heterogeneous modification is unclear. Here, we show that a tubulin polyglutamylase Ttll9 deficiency (Ttll9(-/-)) causes a unique set of phenotypes related to doublet heterogeneity. Ttll9(-/-) sperm axonemes had frequent loss of a doublet and reduced polyglutamylation. Intriguingly, the doublet loss selectively occurred at the distal region of doublet 7, and reduced polyglutamylation was observed preferentially on doublet 5. Ttll9(-/-) spermatozoa showed aberrant flagellar beating, characterized by frequent stalls after anti-hook bending. This abnormal motility could be attributed to the reduction of polyglutamylation on doublet 5, which probably occurred at a position involved in the switching of bending. These results indicate that mammalian Ttll9 plays essential roles in maintaining the normal structure and beating pattern of sperm flagella by establishing normal heterogeneous polyglutamylation patterns.