Fig. 2: The SUN1–SPDYA interaction is required for gametogenesis in mice.

a Testes and ovaries from 6-week-old WT and W151R mouse littermates. Scale bars, 2 mm (for testis) and 1 mm (for ovary). b Hematoxylin and eosin-stained histological cross-sections of 6-week-old testes and epididymis. Arrowhead indicates abnormal spermatocyte-like cells in mutant seminiferous tubules. Asterisk shows vacuolated seminiferous lacking spermatids and spermatozoa. No sperm was observed in the epididymis of mutant mice. Scale bar, 100 μm. c TUNEL staining (green) of apoptotic cells in testis sections from 6-week-old mice. DNA was stained by DAPI (blue). Scale bars, 1 mm; 0.2 mm (for insets). d Population of TUNEL-positive tubules shown as the mean ± SD (n = 3 mice of each indicated genotype). A two-sided Student’s t test was performed, **P = 0.0021. e Ovary tissue sections from 6-week-old mouse littermates stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Arrowheads indicate oocytes and growing follicles in WT ovary. Scale bar, 200 μm. f IF staining of spermatocyte chromosome spreads for SYCP3 (green) and SYCP1 (red). (Pac-like: pachytene-like). Scale bar, 10 μm. g Population of fully paired homologous chromosomes in each WT pachytene or W151R pachytene-like spermatocytes from panel f. A total of n = 83 WT and n = 88 W151R spreads were counted. Red lines indicated the mean values. A two-sided Student’s t test was performed, **P = 2.59E-70. h IF staining of SYCP3 (green) and SYCP1 (red) and FISH detection of chromosome 5 (Chr5) on spermatocyte spreads from adult testes of different genotypes. Scale bar, 10 μm. i Population of spermatocyte spreads containing associated or separated chromosome 5 (Chr5) or chromosome 10 (Chr10) from panel h and Supplementary Fig. 5f. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 3 mice of each indicated genotype). A two-sided Student’s t test was performed, ***P = 3.7E-5 (Chr5) and ***P = 2.6E-5 (Chr10). For each mouse, >50 spreads were counted for quantification. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.