QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online February 20, 2009

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Piwis and fertility hit by Sun1 down

Sun1, an inner nuclear membrane protein, locates to telomeres and participates in postmitotic chromatin decondensation, but its functions in vivo have been subject to debate. Here, Kuan-Teh Jeang and co-workers report that Sun1 is required for the expression of coding and non-coding RNAs that are crucial for male gametogenesis (p. 965). Sun1^–/– mice, they find, are born and grow normally, but are reproductively sterile; the males' gonads are significantly smaller than those of their wild-type counterparts, and spermatogenesis is disrupted. Sun1^–/– testes also show reduced expression of genes that are associated with reproduction, including that of Mili and Miwi, two members of the Piwi gene family. Mili and Miwi participate in the biogenesis of Piwi-associated RNAs (piRNAs), which are crucial for germline development. The authors show that piRNA expression is also strongly reduced in Sun1 mutant animals, and propose that compromised RNA expression, as well as a previously recognised loss of telomeric attachments, in these mice contributes to their sterility.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

Requirement for Sun1 in the expression of meiotic reproductive genes and piRNA

Ya-Hui Chi, Lily I. Cheng, Tim Myers, Jerrold M. Ward, Elizabeth Williams, Qin Su, Larry Faucette, Jing-Ya Wang, and Kuan-Teh Jeang
Development 2009 136: 965-973. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?