Fertility: Out of gas and low on sperm?
"So-called Myc genes play an important role in stem cells' ability to self-renew, " explains Kyoto University's Takashi Shinohara, who is interested specifically in spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), which are responsible for producing sperm. Shinohara adds that SSCs are unique, because they are "the only stem cells that transmit genetic information to offspring." In a new report in Genes & Development, the Shinohara lab demonstrates how the Myc gene regulates the self-renewal of mouse SSCs, via a process of glycolysis control. Glycolysis is a key part of cells' energy-making mechanism. The scientists injected two types of SSCs into mouse testes: normal cells in some, and Myc gene-suppressed in others. Two months later, they found that the total number of abnormal SSCs was far fewer than normal ones. Gene analysis showed that the capacity for self-renewal had been compromised, with possibly important implications for sperm production in these m...