On 28 July, Prof. YUAN Shuiqiao's team from the Institute of Reproductive Health of TJMC, published an online report entitled UHRF1 interactions with snRNAs and regulates alternative splicing in mouse spermatogonial stem cells.

By constructing a spermatogonia conditional knockout Uhrf1 mouse model, the study investigated the function of UHRF1 in the maintenance and differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells, and found that UHRF1 can participate in maintaining the homeostasis of spermatogonial stem cells, and interact with the splicing complex U snRNA which can regulate alternative splicing of mRNA in spermatogonia.

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are male germ cells located in the basement membrane of testicular seminiferous tubules. As the only stem cells in the male germline, SSCs can self-renew to maintain a relatively stable number, and can also undergo differentiation to maintain continuous sperm production. The self-renewal and differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells are regulated by a variety of molecular mechanisms, including alternative splicing of mRNA.

This study reveals a new molecular regulation mechanism of UHRF1, that is, UHRF1 binds to RNA and protein in the splicing complex and regulates the alternative splicing of pre-mRNA in spermatogonial stem cells, which further expands the biological function of epigenetic regulatory factor UHRF 1 in spermatogenesis.