Shaping the sperm head: An ER enzyme leaves its mark

Abstract

Lipid storage diseases are debilitating inherited metabolic disorders that stem from the absence of specific lysosomal enzymes that degrade selected lipids. Most characteristically, these disorders affect the nervous and the reticulo-endothelial systems, with massive organomegaly resulting from the presence of engorged, lipid-laden macrophages. In this issue of the JCI, Yildiz et al. describe the role of the ER-resident enzyme β-glucosidase 2 (GBA2) in mice (see the related article beginning on page 2985). Surprisingly, GBA2 deficiency leaves bile acid and cholesterol metabolism intact, instead causing lipid accumulation in the ER of testicular Sertoli cells, round-headed sperm (globozoospermia), and impaired male fertility.