Abstract

A CTX Family Cell Adhesion Molecule, JAM4, Is Expressed in Stem Cell and Progenitor Cell Populations of both Male Germ Cell and Hematopoietic Cell Lineages ▿ Go Nagamatsu 1 , Masako Ohmura 1 , Takuo Mizukami 2 , Isao Hamaguchi 2 , Susumu Hirabayashi 3 , Shosei Yoshida 4 , Yutaka Hata 3 , Toshio Suda 1 and Kazuyuki Ohbo 1 , 5 , * 1 Sakaguchi Laboratory, Department of Cell Differentiation, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan 2 Department of Safety Research on Blood and Biological Products, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan 3 Department of Medical Biochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8482, Japan 4 Department of Pathology and Tumor Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan 5 School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan 5 ABSTRACT Stem cells are maintained in an undifferentiated state by interacting with a microenvironment known as the “niche,” which is comprised of various secreted and membrane proteins. Our goal was to identify niche molecules participating in stem cell-stem cell and/or stem cell-supporting cell interactions. Here, we isolated genes encoding secreted and membrane proteins from purified male germ stem cells using a signal sequence trap approach. Among the genes identified, we focused on the junctional adhesion molecule 4 (JAM4), an immunoglobulin type cell adhesion molecule. JAM4 protein was actually localized to the plasma membrane in male germ cells. JAM4 expression was downregulated as cells differentiated in both germ cell and hematopoietic cell lineages. To analyze function in vivo, we generated JAM4-deficient mice. Histological analysis of testes from homozygous nulls did not show obvious abnormalities, nor did liver and kidney tissues, both of which strongly express JAM4. The numbers of hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow were indistinguishable between wild-type and mutant mice, as was male germ cell development. These results suggest that JAM4 is expressed in stem cells and progenitor cells but that other cell adhesion molecules may substitute for JAM4 function in JAM4-deficient mice both in male germ cell and hematopoietic lineages.