This Project Grant award of $380,546 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) supports research to define how post-transcriptional regulation of RNA influences gene expression programs in spermatogonial stem and progenitor cells. Led by the principal investigator at Childrens Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, the research aims to:
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Investigate how the RNA-binding protein DAZL enhances retinoic acid-mediated transcriptional and translational changes to induce committed spermatogonial progenitor formation.
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Expand on the discovery that the MEIOC-YTHDC2-RBM46 RNA-binding complex regulates mRNA degradation of transcriptional repressors to enable meiosis initiation in committed progenitors. This includes defining the mechanism of mRNA degradation, MEIOC's molecular function, and whether disrupting the targeted repressors can rescue progenitor competence.
The research outcomes are expected to provide insights into how post-transcriptional regulation interacts with transcriptional networks to support spermatogonial stem and progenitor cell function, with implications for human reproductive health and cellular differentiation processes.
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