MicroRNA-26b promotes transition from Kit to Kit mouse spermatogonia.

During spermatogenesis, a group of undifferentiated spermatogonia undergoes an essential transition to a differentiating stage, which involves gain of Kit receptor. In the current study, we showed that a small non-coding RNA, miRNA-26b could induce transition from Kit to Kit and inhibit proliferation of spermatogonia. A key transcriptional factor for undifferentiated spermatogonia, Plzf, was proven as a direct target of miR-26b.

Conserved miR-10 family represses proliferation and induces apoptosis in ovarian granulosa cells.

Granulosa cells (GCs) are essential somatic cells in the ovary and play an important role in folliculogenesis. Brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) and the TGF-β pathway have been identified as a critical hormone and signalling pathway, respectively, in GCs. In this study, we found that a conserved microRNA family that includes miR-10a and miR-10b repressed proliferation and induced apoptosis in human, mouse, and rat GCs (hGCs, mGCs and rGCs, respectively).