Understanding mammalian spermatozoan development and the events surrounding fertilization has grown slowly, in part because of uncertainty about the number and identity of the cellular components involved. Determination of those transcripts expressed specifically by germ cells should provide an inclusive list of probable critical proteins. Here, total mouse testis transcript profiles were trimm...

OBJECTIVES Cyclophosphamide (CP) toxicity on testis was hampered by squid ink polysaccharide (SIP) via restoration of antioxidant ability in our previous investigations. This study investigated roles of Nrf2/ARE signal pathway in testis of treated mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS Male Kunming mice were employed to undergo treatment with SIP and/or CP. Protein levels of Nrf2, keap-1, histone deacet...

We investigated the effect of the Y chromosome on testis weight in (B6.Cg-A(y) × Y-consomic mouse strain) F1 male mice. We obtained the following results: (1) Mice with the Mus musculus domesticus-type Y chromosome had significantly heavier testis than those with the M. m. musculus-type Y chromosome. (2) Variations in Usp9y and the number of CAG repeats in Sry were significantly associated with...

The variant histones TH2A and TH2B are abundant in the testis, but their roles in spermatogenesis remain elusive. Here, we show thatmale mutant mice lacking both Th2a and Th2b genes were sterile, with few sperm in the epididymis. In the mutant testis, the lack of TH2B was compensated for by overexpression of H2B, whereas overexpression of H2A was not observed, indicating a decrease in the total...

Studies of the Y chromosome in primates, rodents and carnivores provide compelling evidence that the male specific region of Y (MSY) contains functional genes, many of which have specialized roles in spermatogenesis and male-fertility. Little similarity, however, has been found between the gene content and sequence of MSY in different species. This hinders the discovery of species-specific male...

The SSX genes, located on the X chromosome, encode a family of highly homologous nuclear proteins. The SSX1 and SSX2 genes were initially identified as fusion partners of the SYT gene in t(X;18)-positive synovial sarcomas. Recently, however, it was found that these two genes, as well as the highly homologous SSX4 and SSX5 genes, are aberrantly expressed in different types of cancers, including ...

TG-interacting factor (TGIF) in Drosophila consists of two tandemly-repeated genes, achintya (Dmachi) and vismay (Dmvis), which act as transcriptional activators in Drosophila spermatogenesis. In contrast, TGIF in humans is a transcriptional repressor that binds directly to DNA or interacts with corepressors to repress the transcription of target genes. In this study, we investigated the charac...

The molecular biology of circadian rhythms has been extensively studied in mice, and the widespread expression of canonical circadian clock genes in peripheral organs is well established in this species. In contrast, much less information about the peripheral expression of haPer1, haPer2, and haBmal1 is available in Syrian hamsters despite the fact that this species is widely used for studies o...