{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,3]],"date-time":"2026-03-03T16:35:58Z","timestamp":1772555758240,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,9]],"date-time":"2021-08-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1628467200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell Dev. Biol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>SYMPK is a scaffold protein that supports polyadenylation machinery assembly on nascent transcripts and is also involved in alternative splicing in some mammalian somatic cells. However, the role of SYMPK in germ cells remains unknown. Here, we report that SYMPK is highly expressed in male germ cells, and germ cell-specific knockout (cKO) of <jats:italic>Sympk<\/jats:italic> in mouse leads to male infertility. <jats:italic>Sympk<\/jats:italic> cKO<jats:sup>Ddx4\u2013cre<\/jats:sup> mice showed reduced spermatogonia at P4 and almost no germ cells at P18. <jats:italic>Sympk<\/jats:italic> cKO<jats:sup>Stra8\u2013Cre<\/jats:sup> spermatocytes exhibit defects in homologous chromosome synapsis, DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair, and meiotic recombination. RNA-Seq analyses reveal that SYMPK is associated with alternative splicing, besides regulating the expressions of many genes in spermatogenic cells. Importantly, <jats:italic>Sympk<\/jats:italic> deletion results in abnormal alternative splicing and a decreased expression of <jats:italic>Sun1<\/jats:italic>. Taken together, our results demonstrate that SYMPK is pivotal for meiotic progression by regulating pre-mRNA alternative splicing in male germ cells.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcell.2021.715733","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,9]],"date-time":"2021-08-09T04:44:40Z","timestamp":1628484280000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["SYMPK Is Required for Meiosis and Involved in Alternative Splicing in Male Germ Cells"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Rui","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Junfeng","family":"Zhan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bo","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhen","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jianbo","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Changrong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xinhua","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyan","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mengcheng","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1569","DOI":"10.1093\/genetics\/151.4.1569","article-title":"Distribution of crossing over on mouse synaptonemal complexes using immunofluorescent localization of MLH1 protein.","volume":"151","author":"Anderson","year":"1999","journal-title":"Genetics"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pgen.1004825","article-title":"RAN-binding protein 9 is involved in alternative splicing and is critical for male germ cell development and male fertility.","volume":"10","author":"Bao","year":"2014","journal-title":"PLoS Genet."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"641","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2004.10.029","article-title":"Symplekin and xGLD-2 are required for CPEB-mediated cytoplasmic polyadenylation.","volume":"119","author":"Barnard","year":"2004","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3233","DOI":"10.1242\/jcs.02466","article-title":"SPO11 is required for sex-body formation, and Spo11 heterozygosity rescues the prophase arrest of Atm-\/- spermatocytes.","volume":"118","author":"Bellani","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. 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