Undifferentiated spermatogonia regulate Cyp26b1 expression through NOTCH signaling and drive germ cell differentiation

Parag A. Parekh, Thomas X. Garcia, Reham Waheeb, Vivek Jain, Pooja Gandhi, Marvin L. Meistrich, Gunapala Shetty, Marie Claude Hofmann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cytochrome P450 family 26 subfamily B member 1 (CYP26B1) regulates the concentration of all–trans retinoic acid (RA) and plays a key role in germ cell differentiation by controlling local distribution of RA. The mechanisms regulating Cyp26b1 expression in postnatal Sertoli cells, the main components of the stem cell niche, are so far unknown. During gonad development, expression of Cyp26b1 is maintained by Steroidogenic Factor 1 (SF-1) and Sex-Determining Region Y. Box-9 (SOX9), which ensure that RA is degraded and germ cell differentiation is blocked. Here, we show that the NOTCH target Hairy/Enhancer-of-Split Related with YRPW Motif 1 (HEY1), a transcriptional repressor, regulates germ cell differentiation via direct binding to the Cyp26b1 promoter and thus inhibits its expression in Sertoli cells. Further, using in vivo germ cell ablation, we demonstrate that undifferentiated type A spermatogonia are the cells that activate NOTCH signaling in Sertoli cells through their expression of the NOTCH ligand JAGGED-1 (JAG1) at stage VIII of the seminiferous epithelium cycle, therefore mediating germ cell differentiation by a ligand concentration-dependent process. These data therefore provide more insights into the mechanisms of germ cell differentiation after birth and potentially explain the spatiotemporal RA pulses driving the transition between undifferentiated to differentiating spermatogonia.—Parekh, P. A., Garcia, T. X., Waheeb, R., Jain, V., Gandhi, P., Meistrich, M. L., Shetty, G., Hofmann, M.-C. Undifferentiated spermatogonia regulate Cyp26b1 expression through NOTCH signaling and drive germ cell differentiation. FASEB J. 33, 8423–8435 (2019). www.fasebj.org.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)8423-8435
Number of pages13
JournalFASEB Journal
Volume33
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2019

Keywords

  • JAG1
  • Sertoli cell
  • spermatogenesis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

MD Anderson CCSG core facilities

  • Advanced Technology Genomics Core
  • Flow Cytometry and Cellular Imaging Facility
  • Functional Genomics Core
  • Cytogenetics and Cell Authentication Core

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