Mammalian spermatogenesis is a highly organized process with successive mitotic, meiotic, and postmeiotic phases. This unique developmental process is characterized by the involvement of spermatogenic cell-specific genes. In this study, we identified and investigated testis expressed gene 13 (Tex13) family genes, consisting of Tex13a, Tex13b, Tex13c1, and Tex13d, in mice. All of these genes were transcribed specifically or predominantly in male germ cells, and their transcription was developmentally regulated. Proteins encoded by the Tex13 genes were predicted to have a conserved domain of ~ 145 amino acids. Tex13a, Tex13c1, and Tex13d encode additional C-terminal regions containing a short conserved sequence termed a zinc finger-RAN binding protein 2 (zf-RanBP2) or zf-RanBP2-like domain. As TEX13B reportedly has transcriptional repressor activity, we examined the effect of the TEX13 proteins on transcriptional regulation using a reporter assay. All of the TEX13 proteins exhibited transcriptional repressor activity. This activity was revealed to reside in the TEX13B-corresponding regions of TEX13A, TEX13C1, and TEX13D. Further, we found that the C-terminal regions of TEX13A, TEX13C1, and TEX13D also have inhibitory activities. These results suggest that male germ cell-specific or -predominant TEX13 proteins commonly function in transcriptional repression as transcription cofactors and/or RNA binding proteins.
Keywords: Male germ cell; spermatogenesis; Testis; Transcription; Transcription repressor.