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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

A Seminiferous Tubule Squash Technique for the Cytological Analysis of Spermatogenesis Using the Mouse Model
Published on: February 6, 2018
The RNA-binding protein NANOS2 is required to maintain murine spermatogonial stem cells
Aiko Sada1, Atsushi Suzuki, Hitomi Suzuki
1Department of Genetics, SOKENDAI, 1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
Abstract:
Stem cells give rise to differentiated cell types but also preserve their undifferentiated state through cell self-renewal. With the use of transgenic mice, we found that the RNA-binding protein NANOS2 is essential for maintaining spermatogonial stem cells. Lineage-tracing analyses revealed that undifferentiated spermatogonia expressing Nanos2 self-renew and generate the entire spermatogenic cell lineage. Conditional disruption of postnatal Nanos2 depleted spermatogonial stem cell reserves, whereas mouse testes in which Nanos2 had been overexpressed accumulated spermatogonia with undifferentiated, stem cell-like properties. Thus, NANOS2 is a key stem cell regulator that is expressed in self-renewing spermatogonial stem cells and maintains the stem cell state during murine spermatogenesis.
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