YANSHUANG ZHAO, WANXI YANG^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.8, pp. 1709-1725, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.030379

Abstract The phosphoinositide-3-kinase/Akt (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway is crucial for Sertoli cell development and completing spermatogenesis. Its main role is to promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis. Many factors activate the PI3K/AKT pathway, like hormones, such as follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), androgen, estrogen, insulin to name a few. Many of these factors have receptors inside or on the surface of Sertoli cells (SCs). This review summarizes how these hormones directly regulate the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in SCs, which in turn affects SC proliferation and differentiation. Further, hormone-mediated PI3K/AKT signaling also stimulates SC secretion, which is essential for germ cell development, suggesting an indirect… More >

ANA CECILIA LIAUDAT, FRANCISCA EBEL, BIANCA ANA OPIZZO, MARINA AURORA GONZALEZ, DAMIÁN BLOIS, PABLO BOSCH^#, NANCY RODRIGUEZ^#,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.5, pp. 1135-1143, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.027628

Abstract Background: Capacitation is a set of physiological changes sperms undergo to acquire fertilizing capacity. In vivo, this process is directly associated with high calcium levels in sperm cytoplasm. Calcitriol, the vitamin D hypercalcemic metabolite, is related to human sperm motility, capacitation, and acrosome reaction. This work aimed to study the effect of calcitriol on bull sperm quality parameters and capacitation. Methods: One million freeze-thawed spermatozoa were obtained from different bulls and treated with 20 nM of calcitriol for 30 min. Untreated cells (negative control) and treated ones with calcitriol or heparin (100 µg/mL, positive capacitation control) were evaluated for motility,… More >

Huijun Jiang^1,#, Kaien Zhai^3,#, Xiaofan Ye^3,#, Tianwei Hu², Jieming Jiang⁴, Xiaoqiu Dong¹, Weihuai Pan¹, Jianwei Pan², Jianxin Shou^1,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.91, No.12, pp. 2633-2648, 2022, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2022.021474

Abstract Grain filling is a crucial process that affects yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Auxin biosynthesis and signaling are closely related to rice yield; therefore, it is important to understand the effects of auxin biosynthesis on rice grain filling to improve crop yield. In this study, we used physiological and molecular strategies to identify the roles of auxin in rice grain filling. Exogenous application of auxin (IAA) or auxin analogues (2, 4-D) to young spikelets and flag leaves improved the seed-setting rate and yield per spike. Furthermore, real-time quantitative PCR assays confirmed that nine members of the OsYUCCA family of… More >

KE JIA¹, FU-QING TAN², SHUANG-LI HAO^1,*, WAN-XI YANG^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.11, pp. 2399-2413, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.022015

Abstract The SRY-related high mobility group (HMG) box (SOX) transcription factors participate in many physiological processes of animal growth, development, and reproduction and are related to spermatogenesis in many species. However, the relationship between SOX and spermatogenesis in Eriocheir sinensis is rarely reported. Here, we studied the role of Es-SOX8 in the spermatogenesis of E. sinensis and its possible regulation mechanism. Immunofluorescence results demonstrated Es-SOX8 signal in both cytoplasm and nucleus of spermatogonia, spermatocytes as well as spermatids, but not in mature spermatozoa. Hematoxylin and eosin staining showed a significant increase in the number of spermatozoa with abnormal nuclear morphology   … More >

XIAOJUN ZHOU^*, XIAOYU LU, XUBO WANG

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.11, pp. 2489-2495, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.020311

Abstract Euptelea pleiosperma is a characteristic species of East Asian flora with both ornamental and scientific values. Based on the reduced-representation sequencing (RRS) technology of RAD-Seq, this study conducted high-throughput Illumina paired-end sequencing to find SSR marker information in the genome of E. pleiosperma, and to screen and verify polymorphism of SSR markers. We obtained 5.5G of high-quality data using RAD-Seq. The total number of contigs of the RAD tags was 299,376, with the maximum contig length of 2,062 bp and the average length of 445 bp. From these sequences, we identified 20,718 SSR loci, with a distribution density of one… More >

J. David García-Ortíz¹, Rebeca González-Centeno¹, María Alejandra Torres-Tapia², J. A. Ascacio-Valdés¹, José Espinoza-Velázquez², Raúl Rodríguez-Herrera^1,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.91, No.5, pp. 929-941, 2022, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2022.018368

Abstract Because of the growing worldwide demand for maize grain, new alternatives have been sought for breeding of this cereal, e.g., development of polyembryonic varieties, which agronomic performance could positively impact the grain yield per unit area, and nutritional quality. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the phytochemicals present in the embryo and endosperm of grain from maize families with high, low, and null polyembryony frequency, which were planted at different locations, and (2) state the relationship between these compounds and seed germination. The extracted phytochemicals from corn were identified by HPLC-MS. The results showed that the genotype… More >

PAOLA GRIMALDI^*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 301-304, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.017588

Abstract Cannabis is the most widely used drug in the Western societies particularly among adolescent and young adults. Epidemiological studies demonstrate that men use cannabis more frequently than women with higher risk in developing cannabis-related disorders. Although the direct adverse effects of cannabis on male reproductive functions have been studied both in humans and animal models, the possible long-term risks for the health of the users and their offspring are still an area of active research. More >

KHESLLER PATRÍCIA OLAZIA^1,2, JULIANA SOUZA DA SILVA¹, GUILHERME SIRIMARCO DE SOUZA TONELLI¹, SÔNIA NAIR BÁO^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.1, pp. 275-283, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.016603

Abstract In this study, the sperm ultrastructure of three species of Idarnes genus was investigated using light and transmission electron microscopy. Spermatozoon morphology of the three species was similar to that of most Chalcidoidea, with helicoidally twisted nucleus and flagellum. The head region consists of an acrosome and a nucleus; the nucleus-flagellum transition region characterized by the presence of mitochondrial derivatives and the centriolar adjunct; a flagellum region, which includes the axoneme with microtubular arrangement 9 + 9 + 2 and two mitochondrial derivatives. However, the sperm of these three species exhibit features that discriminate one species from each other: (1)… More >

JUAN ZHANG², JUN HUANG³, YAYUAN TANG², XIUZHEN LONG¹

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.1, pp. 195-205, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.016563

Abstract Age-related declines in fertilization success have been reported for a wide range of species. The fertilization of parasitic wasps is closely related to egg production and sperm storage. Aenasius bambawalei (Hymenoptera: Encyridae) is a key parasitic wasp of the important invasive mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). The female offspring ratio of this parasitic wasp was declined with parental age in mass rearing under laboratory conditions. To investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the reproduction of A. bambawalei, an extensive analysis of the impact of age on transcriptome profile of mated ovaries of this wasp was performed by comparing the gene… More >

SHUANG-LI HAO, FEI-DA NI, BANG-HONG WEI, ZHEN-FANG LI, TONG YANG, WAN-XI YANG^*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.4, pp. 971-984, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015178

Abstract Spermatogenesis is a complicated and highly regulated male gamete differentiation process that begins with the proliferation and differentiation of spermatogonia to the release of the mature spermatozoa. The autophagy-related gene atg7 has been reported as closely related to spermatogenesis and communication of Sertoli cell-germ cells in mice, including acrosome biogenesis, sperm flagellum development, and ectoplasmic specialization assembly. However, the function of es-ATG7 and its molecular regulatory mechanism during spermatogenesis in Crustacea remain largely unknown. Here, we cloned and identified es-atg7 from the testes of the Chinese mitten crabs Eriocheir sinensis and found that the expression of es-atg7 was relatively high… More >