title: Mice lacking Ran binding protein 1 are viable and show male infertility.
abstract: The small GTPase Ran plays important roles in multiple aspects of cellular function. Maximal RanGAP activity is achieved with the aid of RanBP1 and/or presumably of RanBP2. Here, we show that RanBP1-knockout mice are unexpectedly viable, and exhibit male infertility due to a spermatogenesis arrest, presumably caused by down-regulation of RanBP2 during spermatogenesis. Indeed, siRNA-mediated depletion of RanBP2 caused severe cell death only in RanBP1-deficient MEFs, indicating that simultaneous depletion of RanBP1 and RanBP2 severely affects normal cell viability. Collectively, we conclude that the dramatic decrease in "RanBP" activity impairs germ cell viability and affects spermatogenesis decisively in RanBP1-knockout mice.
authors.affiliation: Biomolecular Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Frontier Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Tetsuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Rashid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mehmood
authors.forename: Keizo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tokuhiro
authors.forename: Masahito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikawa
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoneda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000473:pathology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D028861:Nuclear Pore Complex Proteins / Q000172:deficiency; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D013087:Spermatids / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D028861:Nuclear Pore Complex Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; C091775:ran-binding protein 1; C094493:ran-binding protein 2