Reproduction Abstracts

Importin protein family members are best known for serving critical roles in mediating regulated nucleocytoplasmic transport, and many are essential to developmental events including gametogenesis. We proposed that coordinated expression of an importin and a cell-specific transcription factor would drive a developmental switch by enabling transcription and other nuclear factors to enter the nucleus appropriately. Analyses of importin alpha (IMPα) and beta (IMPβ) mRNA...

Cell ablation is a powerful technique for examining the role of a particular cell type in organ development and function. The utility of the technique is dependent upon the ablation being specific to one cell type and for those of us interested in the testis we have been fortunate that methods have existed for some time to ablate the germ cells and the Leydig cells. Recently we have also developed a transgenic mouse model which expresses the diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR) spe...

Acrosome is a specialized organelle that covers the anterior part of the sperm nucleus and plays an essential role in the process of fertilization. The molecular mechanism underlying the biogenesis of this lysosome-related organelle (LRO) is still largely unknown. Here we show that germ cell specific Atg7 knockout mice were infertile due to defect in acrosome biogenesis and displayed a phenotype of human globozoospermia, and this reproductive defect was successfully rescued by...