Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α plays a central role in oxygen homeostasis and energy supply by glycolysis in many cell types. We previously reported that an HIF-1α gene deficiency caused abnormal B cell development and autoimmunity. In this study we show that HIF-1α–enabled glycolysis during B cell development is required in a developmental stage-specific manner. Supporting this conclusion are observations that the glycolytic pathway in HIF-1α–deficient B220+ bone marrow cells is much less functionally effective than in wild-type control cells. The expression of genes encoding the glucose transporters and the key glycolytic enzyme, 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bishosphatase 3, was greatly reduced in HIF-1α–deficient cells. The compensatory adaptation to the defect of glycolysis was reflected in higher levels of expression of respiratory chain-related genes and TCA cycle-related genes in HIF-1α–deficient cells than in wild-type cells. In agreement with these findings, HIF-1α–deficient cells used pyruvate more efficiently than wild-type cells. The key role of HIF-1α–enabled glycolysis in bone marrow B cells was also demonstrated by glucose deprivation during in vitro bone marrow cell culture and by using a glycolysis inhibitor in the bone marrow cell culture. Taken together, these findings indicate that glucose dependency differs at different B cell developmental stages and that HIF-1α plays an important role in B cell development.

Reproductive isolation that initiates speciation is likely caused by incompatibility among multiple loci in organisms belonging to genetically diverging populations. Laboratory C57BL/6J mice, which predominantly originated from Mus musculus domesticus, and a MSM/Ms strain derived from Japanese wild mice (M. m. molossinus, genetically close to M. m. musculus) are reproductively isolated. Their F 1 hybrids are fertile, but successive intercrosses result in sterility. A consomic strain, C57BL/6J-ChrX MSM , which carries the X chromosome of MSM/Ms in the C57BL/6J background, shows male sterility, suggesting a genetic incompatibility of the MSM/Ms X chromosome and other C57BL/6J chromosome(s). In this study, we conducted genomewide linkage analysis and subsequent QTL analysis using the sperm shape anomaly that is the major cause of the sterility of the C57BL/6J-ChrX MSM males. These analyses successfully detected significant QTL on chromosomes 1 and 11 that interact with the X chromosome. The introduction of MSM/Ms chromosomes 1 and 11 into the C57BL/6J-ChrX MSM background failed to restore the sperm-head shape, but did partially restore fertility. This result suggests that this genetic interaction may play a crucial role in the reproductive isolation between the two strains. A detailed analysis of the male sterility by intracytoplasmic sperm injection and zona-free in vitro fertilization demonstrated that the C57BL/6J-ChrX MSM spermatozoa have a defect in penetration through the zona pellucida of eggs.

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Maternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) allows us to generate mtDNA congenic strain by repeating backcrosses of female mice to male mice of an inbred strain, which carries different mtDNA haplotype from that of the female progenitor. Since genetic backgrounds of inbred strains commonly used (e.g., C57BL/ 6J [B6] and BALB/c) are mainly derived from an European subspecies of Mus musculus domesticus, congenic strains, in which mtDNA originated from an Asian subspecies M. musculus musculus or an European species M. spretus, give in vivo condition that mismatch occurs between the mitochondrial and the nuclear genome. So far, little has been known how the mismatch condition affects the physiological phenotype of the mice. To address this question, we established two mtDNA congenic strains, C57BL/6J(B6)-mt SPR and BALB/c-mt SHH , which carry M. spretus-and M. m. musculus-derived mtDNAs, representing the conditions of interspecific and intersubspecific mitochondrial-nuclear genome mismatch, respectively. Using these congenic strains, we examined their physical performance by measuring their running time on a treadmill belt until exhaustion. The result clearly showed that the mtDNA congenic strains manifested a significant decrease in the level of physical performance, when compared with their progenitor strains. It also appeared that the congenic mice manifested growth rate. Thus, all results indicated that mismatch between the mitochondrial and the nuclear genome causes phenotypic changes in individuals of mice.