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Global silencing of transcriptional activity in the oocyte genome occurs just before the resumption of meiosis and is a crucial developmental transition at the culmination of oogenesis. Transcriptionally quiescent oocytes rely on stored maternal transcripts to sustain the completion of meiosis, fertilization, and early embryonic cleavage stages. Thus, the(More)
Characterizing structural variants in the human genome is of great importance, but a genome wide analysis to detect interspersed repeats has not been done. Thus, the degree to which mobile DNAs contribute to genetic diversity, heritable disease, and oncogenesis remains speculative. We perform transposon insertion profiling by microarray (TIP-chip) to map(More)
Chromatin remodeling is a major event that occurs during mammalian spermiogenesis, the process of spermatid maturation into spermatozoa. Nuclear condensation during spermiogenesis is accomplished by replacing somatic histones (linker histone H1 and core histones) and the testis-specific linker histone, H1t, with transition proteins and protamines. It has(More)
Upon fertilization, remodeling of condensed maternal and paternal gamete DNA occurs to form the diploid genome. In Xenopus laevis, nucleoplasmin 2 (NPM2) decondenses sperm DNA in vitro. To study chromatin remodeling in vivo, we isolated mammalian NPM2 orthologs. Mouse NPM2 accumulates in oocyte nuclei and persists in preimplantation embryos. Npm2 knockout(More)
The production of functional female gametes is essential for the propagation of all vertebrate species. The growth of oocytes within ovarian follicles and their development to mature eggs have fascinated biologists for centuries, and scientists have long realized the importance of the ovarian follicle's somatic cells in nurturing oogenesis and delivering(More)
Zona pellucida binding protein 1 (ZPBP1), a spermatid and spermatozoon protein that localizes to the acrosome, was originally identified in pigs and named for its binding to the oocyte zona pellucida. In an in silico search for germ cell-specific genes, Zpbp1 and its novel paralog, Zpbp2, were discovered and confirmed to be expressed only in the testes in(More)
Nuage are amorphous ultrastructural granules in the cytoplasm of male germ cells as divergent as Drosophila, Xenopus, and Homo sapiens. Most nuage are cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein structures implicated in diverse RNA metabolism including the regulation of PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) synthesis by the PIWI family (i.e., MILI, MIWI2, and MIWI). MILI is(More)
Cancers comprise a heterogeneous group of human diseases. Unifying characteristics include unchecked abilities of tumor cells to proliferate and spread anatomically, and the presence of clonal advantageous genetic changes. However, universal and highly specific tumor markers are unknown. Herein, we report widespread long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1)(More)
Tektins are microtubule-associated cytoskeletal proteins that are expressed primarily in the male germ cell-lineage in centrioles and basal bodies and within ciliary and flagellar doublet microtubules. They are proposed to be important for axonemal architecture and microtubule stability in the sperm tail and in other ciliated and flagellar structures. Using(More)
Cells of the ovarian follicle undergo extensive proliferation and differentiation from the time that the follicle escapes from the primordial state to its acquisition of ovulatory capacity. We examined the dynamic modification of the phosphorylation state of the histone H3 N-terminal tail in granulosa cells during follicular development. In rodent(More)