RNF20 is required for male fertility through regulation of H2B ubiquitination in the Sertoli cells.

Background: Spermatogenesis depends on the supporting of the Sertoli cells and their communications with germ cells. However, the regulation of crosstalk between the Sertoli cells and germ cells remains unclear.

Results: In this report, we used conditional knockout technology to generate the Sertoli cells-specific knockout of Rnf20 in mice.

Srag Regulates Autophagy via Integrating into a Preexisting Autophagy Pathway in Testis.

Spermatogenesis is an essential process for producing sperm cells. Reproductive strategy is successfully evolved for a species to adapt to a certain ecological system. However, roles of newly evolved genes in testis autophagy remain unclear.

Haploinsufficiency of GCP4 induces autophagy and leads to photoreceptor degeneration due to defective spindle assembly in retina.

Retinopathy, owing to damage to the retina, often causes vision impairment, and the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. Using a gene targeting strategy, we generated mice with the essential gene Tubgcp4 knocked out. Homozygous mutation of Tubgcp4 resulted in early embryonic lethality due to abnormal spindle assembly caused by GCP4 (gamma-tubulin complex protein 4, encoded by Tubgcp4) depletion.