Selective deletion of Smad4 in postnatal germ cells does not affect spermatogenesis or fertility in mice.
SMAD4 is the central component of canonical signaling in the transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) superfamily. Loss of Smad4 in Sertoli cells affects the expansion of the fetal testis cords, whereas selective deletion of Smad4 in Leydig cells alone does not appreciably alter fetal or adult testis development. Loss of Smad4 in Sertoli and Leydig cells, on the other hand, leads to testicular dysgenesis, and tumor formation in mice. Within the murine testes, Smad4 is also expressed in germ cells of the seminiferous tubules. We therefore, crossed Ngn3-Cre or Stra8-Cre transgenic mice with Smad4-flox mice to generate conditional knockout animals in which Smad4 was specifically deleted in postnatal germ cells to further uncover cell type-specific requirement of Smad4. Unexpectedly, these germ-cell-knockout mice were fertile and did not exhibit any detectable abnormalities in spermatogenesis, indicating that Smad4 is not required for the production of sperm; instead, these data indicate a cell type-specific requirement of Smad4 primarily during testis development. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 83: 615-623, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xiao-Xia
XX
Hao
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Su-Ren
SR
Chen
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Ji-Xin
JX
Tang
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jian
J
Li
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jin-Mei
JM
Cheng
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Cheng
C
Jin
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xiu-Xia
XX
Wang
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yi-Xun
YX
Liu
D000818:Animals; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D051901:Smad4 Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D013737:Testis / Q000254:growth & development*
D051901:Smad4 Protein; C490810:Smad4 protein, mouse