Critically short telomeres are associated with sperm DNA fragmentation.
The influence of critical telomeric attrition, a well-known trigger of apoptosis and cell arrest, on sperm DNA fragmentation was studied in late-generation knockout mice for Terc, the RNA component of telomerase, as a model of choice. Terc knockout mice had a sixfold mean increase in the percentage of sperm cells with fragmented DNA.
Rodríguez
Silvia
S
Unidad de Investigación, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Juan Canalejo, Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de La Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.
Goyanes
Vicente
V
Segrelles
Enrique
E
Blasco
María
M
Gosálvez
Jaime
J
Fernández
José Luis
JL
D000818:Animals; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000235:genetics*; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology