State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
FEBS Lett. 2012 May 21;586(10):1497-503. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2012.04.005. Epub 2012 Apr 18.
Spermatogenesis is an extremely intricate process that is tightly regulated and orchestrated by a series of well-coordinated gene expression programmes. Nemo-like kinase (NLK) is an evolutionarily conserved serine/threonine kinase that functions in a wide variety of developmental events. Nevertheless, the function of NLK in spermatogenesis has not been investigated. In this study, we found that the distribution of NLK in mice exhibited a dynamic change during testicular development and gradually became concentrated in the acrosomes of elongated spermatids. NLK overexpression promoted etoposide-induced apoptosis of male germ cell-derived GC-1 cells, while knockdown of NLK by RNA interference (RNAi) attenuated etoposide-induced apoptosis. Our findings suggest that NLK plays an important role in etoposide-induced germ cell apoptosis and may be associated with spermatogenesis.
精子发生是一个极其复杂的过程，受到一系列协调良好的基因表达程序的严格调控。Nemo 样激酶（NLK）是一种进化上保守的丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶，在多种发育事件中发挥作用。然而，NLK 在精子发生中的功能尚未被研究过。在这项研究中，我们发现 NLK 在小鼠睾丸发育过程中的分布呈现动态变化，逐渐集中在长形精子的顶体中。NLK 的过表达促进依托泊苷诱导的雄性生殖细胞源性 GC-1 细胞凋亡，而 RNA 干扰（RNAi）敲低 NLK 则减弱了依托泊苷诱导的凋亡。我们的研究结果表明，NLK 在依托泊苷诱导的生殖细胞凋亡中发挥重要作用，可能与精子发生有关。
