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| image credit: alnmag.com |
"Scientists have found distinctive portions of genetic material -- known as lncRNAs -- that help sperm develop. Male mice lacking a particular lncRNA have low sperm count, suggesting lncRNAs could represent novel infertility drug targets.
"Infertility affects 10 to 15 percent of couples in the United States, with the vast majority of cases due to unknown causes. Approximately 40 percent of these cases are due to male infertility," said senior author Khalil. Khalil and colleagues have been working to understand genetic mechanisms behind male infertility.
His work focuses on long strands of genetic material with elusive functions. The strands, called "long non-coding RNAs" or "lncRNAs" don't seem to encode proteins, but have been implicated in everything from cancer to brain function. Many are located in the testes, suggesting they could also play a role in fertility.
Said Khalil,"LncRNAs have only been discovered several years ago, and thus, provide a great opportunity to explore novel therapeutic targets for a variety of conditions."
How the Study Was Conducted: A team of seven researchers, led by Khalil, collected and measured lncRNA levels during the process of cellular differentiation that leads to sperm production. They found that specific lncRNAs are associated with each stage of sperm development. The researchers also identified lncRNAs and mRNAs that are testes-specific -- that is, not found in other human or mouse tissues. The Case Western Reserve School of Medicine Genomics core facility performed the RNA sequencing..."
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