microRNAs (miRNAs) play a vital role in development via the post-transcriptional regulation of most genes. Variation in the miRNA machinery pathway proteins which mediate the biogenesis, maturation, transportation, and functioning of miRNAs might be relevant to human traits. In this work, we explored the role of 59 miRNA machinery genes in schizophrenia (SZ). Association analysis of 967 single ...

Although most cancer research has focused in mRNA, non-coding RNAs are also an essential player in tumorigenesis. In addition to the well-recognized microRNAs, recent studies have also shown that epigenetic silencing by CpG island hypermethylation of other classes of non-coding RNAs, such as transcribed ultraconserved regions (T-UCRs) or small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), also occur in human neopl...

We have examined the effect of retinoic acid (RA) on differentiation of bone marrow-derived CD15(+) , Oct4(+) and CXCR4(+) cells into male germ cells. Bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) were isolated from the femur of 3-4-week-old male C57BL/6 mice. Magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) system was used to sort CD15(+) , Oct4(+) and CXCR4(+) cells. RT-PCR was used to follow the expression of plurip...

The mouse PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway produces a class of 26-30-nucleotide (nt) small RNAs and is essential for spermatogenesis and retrotransposon repression. In oocytes, however, its regulation and function are poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the consequences of loss of piRNA-pathway components in growing oocytes. When MILI (or PIWIL2), a PIWI family member, ...

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are precursors of gametes and share several features in common with pluripotent stem cells, such as alkaline phosphatase activity and the expression of pluripotency-associated genes such as OCT4 and NANOG. PGCs are able to differentiate into oocytes and spermatogonia and establish totipotency after fertilization. However, our knowledge of human germ cell development...

Nuclear importing system and nuclear factors play important roles in mediating nuclear reprogramming and zygotic gene activation. However, the components and mechanisms that mediate nuclearly specific targeting of the nuclear proteins during nuclear reprogramming and zygotic gene activation remain largely unknown. Here, we identified a novel member of the importinfamily, AW146299(KPNA7), which ...

The role of the Piwi/piRNA pathway during mammalian oogenesis has remained enigmatic thus far, especially since experiments with Piwi knockout mice did not reveal any phenotypic defects in female individuals. This is in striking contrast with results obtained from other species including flies and zebrafish. In mouse oocytes, however, only low levels of piRNAs are found and they are not require...

The expression of Piwi-interacting RNAs, small RNAs that bind to PIWI proteins, was until recently believed to be limited to germinal stem cells. We have studied the expression of PIWI genes during human lung embryogenesis and in paired tumor and normal tissue prospectively collected from 71 resected non-small-cell lung cancer patients. The mRNA expression analysis showed that PIWIL1 was highly...