Transcriptome profiling of the murine testis during the first wave of spermatogenesis

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Ympäristön ja elintapojen vaikutus miesten sukusolujen epigenomiin

Elintavoista ja ympäristöaltistuksista johtuvat terveyden häiriöt muodostavat suuren ongelman teollistuneessa länsimaisessa nyky-yhteiskunnassa. Näihin lukeutuvat myös miesten lisääntymisterveyden ongelmat, kuten siittiöiden laadun ja määrän laskeminen, joiden yhtenä tärkeänä aiheuttaja pidetään ympäristötekijöitä. Epigeneettisellä geenisäätelyllä on merkittävä rooli hedelmöityskykyisen siittiön muodostuksessa. Sukusolujen epigenomi on altis ympäristön vaikutuksille, ja on selvää, että epigenomin häiriöillä voi olla vakavia seurauksia siittiön muodostukseen. Sukusolujen epigenomin häiriöillä saattaa olla myös kauaskantoisempia vaikutuksia aina seuraaviin sukupolviin saakka, sillä eläinkokeilla on osoitettu, että tieto hankitusta ominaisuudesta voi siirtyä jälkeläiselle siittiöiden epigeneettisen tiedon välityksellä

Epigeneettinen periytyminen sukusolulinjassa

Ympäristön aiheuttamat muutokset geenien toiminnassa voivat periytyä sukupolvelta toiselle sukusolujen välityksellä ja vaikuttaa näin jälkikasvun fenotyyppiin, ilman että {DNA}:n emäsjärjestyksessä tapahtuu muutoksia. Tällaisten havaintojen myötä evoluution ja geneettisen periytymisen mekanismeja on jouduttu tarkastelemaan uudelleen, sillä aikaisemmin on ajateltu, etteivät hankitut geenien toiminnalliset tilat periydy vaan että periytyvien fenotyyppien taustalla ovat joko mutaatioista johtuvat genomin rakenteelliset muutokset tai perinnöllisen materiaalin uudelleen järjestäytyminen. Tapahtumasarjaa, jossa tieto hankituista ominaisuuksista siirtyy yksilösukupolvelta toiselle sukusolulinjan epigeneettisten muutosten välityksellä kutsutaan epigeneettiseksi periytymiseksi. Kokeelliset tutkimukset ovat todistaneet ilmiön eläimillä. Ihmisillä sitä ei ole vielä vahvistettu, mutta ylisukupolvisissa väestötutkimuksissa on nähty yhteyksiä, jotka voisivat selittyä epigeneettisen periytymisen kautta

Fhl5/Act, a CREM-binding transcriptional activator required for normal sperm maturation and morphology, is not essential for testicular gene expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The LIM domain protein Fhl5 was previously found to interact with CREM, a DNA binding transcriptional regulator necessary for spermiogenesis in mammals. Co-transfection experiments using heterologous promoter constructs indicated a role for Fhl5 in transcriptional up-regulation of CREM-dependent testicular genes. Male mice lacking Fhl5 were reported to be fertile but displayed partially abnormal sperm maturation and morphology.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To identify Fhl5 testicular target genes we carried out two whole-genome expression profiling experiments using high-density oligonucleotide microarrays and total testis samples from Fhl5 wild-type versus homozygous mutant mice first in different and then in isogenic strain backgrounds.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Weak signal differences were detected in non-isogenic samples but no statistically significant expression changes were observed when isogenic Fhl5 mutant and wild-type samples were compared.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The outcome of these experiments suggests that testicular expression profiling is extremely sensitive to the genetic background and that Fhl5 is not essential for testicular gene expression to a level detected by microarray-based measurements. This might be due to redundant function of the related and similarly expressed protein Fhl4.</p

The novel PIAS-like protein hZimp10 is a transcriptional co-activator of the p53 tumor suppressor

The tumor suppressor, p53, plays critical roles in the cell cycle progression, DNA repair and apoptosis. The PIAS proteins (protein inhibitor of activated STAT) were originally identified as inhibitors of the JAK-STAT pathway. Subsequently, crosstalk between the PIAS proteins and other signaling pathways has been shown to be involved in various cellular processes. Particularly, previous studies have demonstrated that PIAS proteins regulate p53-mediated transcription through sumoylation. hZimp10, also named zmiz1, is a novel PIAS-like protein and functions as a transcriptional co-activator. We recently identified p53 to be an hZimp10 interacting protein in the yeast two-hybrid screen. The interaction between p53 and hZimp10 was confirmed by GST pull-down and co-immunoprecipitation assays. Co-localization of p53 and hZimp10 proteins was also observed within cell nuclei by immunostaining. Moreover, we show that expression of exogenous hZimp10 enhances the transcriptional activity of p53 and knockdown of endogenous hZimp10 reduces the transcriptional activity of p53. Furthermore, using chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we demonstrate that hZimp10 binds to p53 on the p21 promoter. Finally, p53-mediated transcription is significantly impaired in Zimp10 null embryonic fibroblasts. Taken together, these results provide the first line of evidence to demonstrate a role for Zimp10 in regulating p53 function

Testicular "Inherited Metabolic Memory" of Ancestral High-Fat Diet Is Associated with Sperm sncRNA Content

Funding: This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology: L. Crisóstomo (SFRH/BD/128584/2017), M.G. Alves (PTDC/MEC-AND/28691/2017), UMIB (UIDB/00 215/2020 and UIDP/00215/2020), and ITR (LA/P/0064/2020) and co-funded by FEDER funds (POCI/COMPETE 2020) and by the Portuguese Society of Diabetology: L. Crisóstomo and M.G. Alves (“Nuno Castel-Branco” research grant and Group of Fundamental and Translational Research).publishersversionpublishe

The RNA Binding Protein SAM68 Transiently Localizes in the Chromatoid Body of Male Germ Cells and Influences Expression of Select MicroRNAs

The chromatoid body (CB) is a unique structure of male germ cells composed of thin filaments that condense into a perinuclear organelle after meiosis. Due to the presence of proteins involved in different steps of RNA metabolism and of different classes of RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), the CB has been recently suggested to function as an RNA processing centre. Herein, we show that the RNA binding protein SAM68 transiently localizes in the CB, in concomitance with the meiotic divisions of mouse spermatocytes. Precise staging of the seminiferous tubules and co-localization studies with MVH and MILI, two well recognized CB markers, documented that SAM68 transiently associates with the CB in secondary spermatocytes and early round spermatids. Furthermore, although SAM68 co-immunoprecipitated with MVH in secondary spermatocytes, its ablation did not affect the proper localization of MVH in the CB. On the other hand, ablation of the CB constitutive component MIWI did not impair association of SAM68 with the CB. Isolation of CBs from Sam68 wild type and knockout mouse testes and comparison of their protein content by mass spectrometry indicated that Sam68 ablation did not cause overall alterations in the CB proteome. Lastly, we found that SAM68 interacts with DROSHA and DICER in secondary spermatocytes and early round spermatids and that a subset of miRNAs were altered in Sam68−/−germ cells. These results suggest a novel role for SAM68 in the miRNA pathway during spermatogenesis

NXF2 is involved in cytoplasmic mRNA dynamics through interactions with motor proteins

Tap/NXF1, the founding member of the evolutionarily conserved NXF (Nuclear RNA export Factor) family of proteins, is required for the nuclear export of bulk poly(A)+ RNAs. In mice, three additional NXF family genes (NXF2, NXF3, NXF7) have been identified and characterized to date. Cumulative data suggest that NXF family members play roles, not only in nuclear mRNA export, but also in various aspects of post-transcriptional mRNA metabolism. In order to better understand the functional role of NXF2, we searched for its binding partners by yeast two-hybrid screening and identified several cytoplasmic motor proteins, including KIF17. The interaction of NXF2 with KIF17, which was confirmed by GST pull-down and co-immunoprecipitation assays, is mediated by the N-terminal domain of NXF2, which is required for the punctate localization patterns in dendrites of primary neurons. We also found that the NXF2-containing dendritic granules, which were co-localized with KIF17, mRNA and Staufen1, a known component of neuronal mRNA granules, moved bidirectionally along dendrites in a microtubule-dependent manner. These results suggest that NXF2, a nucleo-cytoplasmic mRNA transporter, plays additional roles in the cytoplasmic localization of mRNAs through interactions with cytoplasmic motor proteins

piRNA-directed cleavage of meiotic transcripts regulates spermatogenesis.

MIWI catalytic activity is required for spermatogenesis, indicating that piRNA-guided cleavage is critical for germ cell development. To identify meiotic piRNA targets, we augmented the mouse piRNA repertoire by introducing a human meiotic piRNA cluster. This triggered a spermatogenesis defect by inappropriately targeting the piRNA machinery to mouse mRNAs essential for germ cell development. Analysis of such de novo targets revealed a signature for pachytene piRNA target recognition. This enabled identification of both transposable elements and meiotically expressed protein-coding genes as targets of native piRNAs. Cleavage of genic targets began at the pachytene stage and resulted in progressive repression through meiosis, driven at least in part via the ping-pong cycle. Our data support the idea that meiotic piRNA populations must be strongly selected to enable successful spermatogenesis, both driving the response away from essential genes and directing the pathway toward mRNA targets that are regulated by small RNAs in meiotic cells.This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health R37 grant GM062534-14 to G.J.H. iTRAQ was performed with assistance from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Proteomics Shared Resource, which is supported by Cancer Center support grant 5P30CA045508. W.S.S.G. is a McClintock Fellow of the Watson School of Biological Sciences and is supported by the NSS Scholarship from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore. O.H.T. is supported by a fellowship of the Human Frontier Science Program. R.B. is supported by the Starr Centennial Scholarship from the Watson School of Biological Sciences. G.J.H. is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/gad.260455.11