Faculty

Research Description

Research interests include understanding how spermatogenesis is regulated on a cellular level with specific interest in:

• The molecular cloning and characterization of a mouse germ cell nuclear antigen (mGCNA1) uniquely expressed during spermatogenesis and oogenesis
• Cell/matrix interactions. The major thrust of the laboratory is to characterize mGCNA1 which is present only in germ cells (Enders and May, 1994) and serves as a marker of early germ cell tumors (Wang and Enders, 1996). The antigen is recognized by a rat monoclonal antibody, 10D9G11, that recognized mGCNA1 in both male and female germ cells from embryonic day 11 until the dictyate stage of the first meiotic division (females, neonatally; males, throughout life). Thus, while neither expressed in ejaculated sperm nor ovulated eggs, mGCNA1 is expressed during the mitotic expansion of both the female and male populations.

The long term goals are to determine if the regulatory elements drive the expression of transgenes, thus potentially allowing controlled in vitro proliferation of germ cells. More immediate goals are to determine the cDNA sequence that directs mGCNA1 synthesis; deter-mine the gene which encodes mGCNA1; and characterize the nature of the size and charge het-erogeneity of mGCNA1.

We are also interested in determining the unique properties of the seminiferous tubule membrane upon which spermatogonia undergo mitotic proliferation. Unlike 1 and 2 (IV) collagen chains, which are first expressed embryonically when the seminiferous tubule basement membrane is first deposited, 3 and 4 (IV) collagen chains are expressed shortly after birth, coincident with the initiation of gonocyte proliferation, migration and differentiation along with the rapid expansion of the diameter of the seminiferous tubules.