DAZL is a master translational regulator of murine spermatogenesis

Haixin Li, Zhuqing Liang, Jian Yang, Dan Wang, Hanben Wang, Mengyi Zhu, Baobao Geng, Eugene Yujun Xu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

77 Scopus citations

Abstract

Expression of DAZ-like (DAZL) is a hallmark of vertebrate germ cells, and is essential for embryonic germ cell development and differentiation, yet the gametogenic function of DAZL has not been fully characterized and most of its in vivo direct targets remain unknown. We showed that postnatal stage-specific deletion of Dazl in mouse germ cells did not affect female fertility, but caused complete male sterility with gradual loss of spermatogonial stem cells, meiotic arrest and spermatid arrest. Using the genome-wide high-throughput sequencing of RNAs isolated by cross-linking immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry approach, we found that DAZL bound to a large number of testicular mRNA transcripts (at least 3008) at the 3′-untranslated region and interacted with translation proteins including poly(A) binding protein. In the absence of DAZL, polysome-associated target transcripts, but not their total transcripts, were significantly decreased, resulting in a drastic reduction of an array of spermatogenic proteins and thus developmental arrest. Thus, DAZL is a master translational regulator essential for spermatogenesis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)455-468
Number of pages14
JournalNational Science Review
Volume6
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2019

Funding

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB943002 and 2013CB945201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771652, 81270737 and 81401256) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2012838).

Keywords

  • CLIPs
  • DAZ
  • RNA binding proteins
  • infertility
  • translational regulation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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