Although seminolipid has long been suspected to play an essential role in spermatogenesis
because of its uniquely abundant and temporally regulated expression in the spermatocytes,
direct experimental evidence has been lacking. We have tested the hypothesis by
examining the testis of the UDP-galactose: ceramide galactosyltransferase-deficient mouse,
which is incapable of synthesizing seminolipid. Spermatogenesis in homozygous affected
males is arrested at the late pachytene stage and the spermatogenic cells degenerate …