Teratospermia is a heterogeneous and complex disorder, which is closely associated with male fertility. Genes and gene products associated with teratospermia may serve as targeted biomarkers that help understand the underlying mechanisms of male infertility; however, systematic information on the subject remains to be elucidated. The present study performed a comparative bioinformatics analysis...

It has been an indisputable fact that the constitu-tive sex in mammalian fetal development is female. Furthermore, a functioning ovary is not required for the female phenotype, whereas a testis is mandatory for male development. More than 50 years after Jost performed experiments in rabbit embryos in which castration was followed by testis engraftment, his observations remain a beacon of clarit...

Little is known of the mechanisms whereby the mammalian indifferent gonad develops into a testis or ovary. In XY individuals, Sry, the mammalian testis-determining gene, is expressed in the pre-Sertoli cells, which then differentiate into Sertoli cells. Other cell types, which include the germ cells, the steroidogenic cells and the connective tissue cells, must then be instructed to develop in ...

BACKGROUND Apoptosis plays a critical role in controlling the proliferation and differentiation of germ cells during spermatogenesis. Dysregulation of the fine-tuned balance may lead to the onset of testicular diseases. In this study, we investigated the activation status of apoptosis pathways in the testicular tissues under the background of an asthmatic mouse model. METHODS Ten BALB/c mice ...

background: hox genes are well-known transcription factors that play essential roles in directing embryonic development. tgifly is a y-linked homeobox gene that was originally identified by virtue of its expression in adult testis. the functions of tgifly in normal and abnormal development are unknown. methods: to investigate the potential roles of tgifly gene in the infertile males, a semi-nes...

Although a large proportion of human transcription occurs outside the boundaries of known genes, the functional significance of this transcription remains unknown. We have compared the expression patterns of known genes as well as intergenic transcripts within the ENCODE regions between humans and chimpanzees in brain, heart, testis, and lymphoblastoid cell lines. We find that intergenic transc...

introduction: recently, a novel gene was cloned and characterized named catsper, which codes for a unique ca2+ channel that is expressed excludively in the testis. it has crucial role in sperm motility, sperm penetration into the ovum and ultimately male fertility. in the present study, we have evaluated the expression of this gene at different ages of mouse by semi-quantitative rt-pcr. materia...

BACKGROUND In birds as in mammals, a genetic switch determines whether the undifferentiated gonad develops into an ovary or a testis. However, understanding of the molecular pathway(s) involved in gonad differentiation is still incomplete. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS With the aim of improving characterization of the molecular pathway(s) involved in gonad differentiation in the chicken embr...

The new concept of mammalian sex maintenance establishes that particular key genes must remain active in the differentiated gonads to avoid genetic sex reprogramming, as described in adult ovaries after Foxl2 ablation. Dmrt1 plays a similar role in postnatal testes, but the mechanism of adult testis maintenance remains mostly unknown. Sox9 and Sox8 are required for postnatal male fertility, but...