Mouse spermatogenic cell-specific type 1 hexokinase (mHk1-s) transcripts are expressed by alternative splicing from themHk1 gene and the HK1-S protein is localized mainly in the sperm tail

Unique type 1 hexokinase (HK1) mRNAs are present in mouse spermatogenic cells (mHk1-s). They encode a spermatogenic cell-specific sequence region (SSR) but not the porin-binding domain (PBD) necessary for HK1 binding to porin on the outer mitochondrial membrane. This study determined the origin of the multiple Hk1-s transcripts in mouse spermatogenic cells and verified that they are translated in mouse spermatogenic cells. It also showed that a single mHk1 gene encodes the mHk1 transcripts of somatic cells and the mHk1-sa and mHk1-sb transcripts of spermatogenic cells, that alternative exons are used during mHk1 gene expression in mouse spermatogenic cells, and that mHK1-S is translated in mouse spermatogenic cells and is localized mainly with the fibrous sheath in the tail region, not with the mitochondria in the midpiece of mouse sperm.