Identification of a novel male germ cell-specific gene TESF-1 in mice.

Jun Fan, Matthew Graham, Hiroto Akabane, Laura L Richardson, Guo-Zhang Zhu

Department of Biological Sciences, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA.

Biochemical and biophysical research communications 2006 Feb 3

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Mammalian spermatogenesis is precisely regulated by many germ cell-specific factors. In search for such a germ cell-specific factor, we have identified a novel mouse gene testis-specific factor 1 (TESF-1). Messenger RNA of TESF-1 was found only in the testis and its expression appeared to be regulated in a developmental manner. Further analysis demonstrated that the expression of TESF-1 was specifically in male germ cells, supported by the observation that we were not able to detect the TESF-1 mRNA from at/at homozygous mutant testes, which lack germ cells. The deduced amino acid sequence of TESF-1 contains a leucine-zipper motif, a potential nuclear localization signal, and two cAMP- and cGMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation sites. The green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged TESF-1 fusion protein was expressed in COS-7 cells and localized primarily in the nucleus. Taken together, these results indicate that TESF-1 is a novel male germ cell-specific gene, and its protein product may function as a nuclear factor involved in the regulation of spermatogenesis.

Citation

Jun Fan, Matthew Graham, Hiroto Akabane, Laura L Richardson, Guo-Zhang Zhu. Identification of a novel male germ cell-specific gene TESF-1 in mice. Biochemical and biophysical research communications. 2006 Feb 3;340(1):8-12