Regulatory functions of gga-miR-218 in spermatogonial stem cells meiosis by targeting Stra8.

MicroRNAs play a crucial role in sperm formation, but its specific function remains unknown. Here, we found that gga-miR-218 regulates chicken sperm formation through in/ex vivo experiments. We constructed over-expression/interference carrier to overexpress and inhibit gga-miR-218 in chicken spermatogonial stem cells, separately, the detection of haploid and QRT-PCR of meiosis related genes revealed that gga-miR-218 inhibits meiosis. After injection of miR-218 in vivo, semen concentration and HE (Hematoxylin and Eosin staining) revealed that gga-miR-218 inhibits meiosis. Meanwhile, we discovered that gga-miR-218 could target Stra8 by prediction software which can inhibit the wild-type fluorescence activity by co-transfection of gga-miR-218 with the Stra8 3' untranslated regions fluorescent reporter vector (wild-type/mutant), QRT-PCR and Western blot showed that gga-miR-218 inhibits the expression level of Stra8 by targeting its 3' untranslated regions directly. Finally, we suggest that gga-miR-218 could target to srta8 directly and inhibit spermatogenesis.