{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:10:53Z","timestamp":1787026253102,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,8]],"date-time":"2021-11-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1636329600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003407","name":"Ministero dell\u2019Istruzione, dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 e della Ricerca","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009448","name":"Universit\u00e0 degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009448","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009448","name":"Universit\u00e0 degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009448","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell Dev. Biol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Ankyrin proteins (ANKRD) are key mediators linking membrane and sub-membranous cytoskeletal proteins. Recent findings have highlighted a new role of ANKRD31 during spermatogenesis, elucidating its involvement in meiotic recombination and male germ cell progression. Following testicular differentiation, spermatozoa (SPZ) enter into the epididymis, where they undergo several biochemical and enzymatic changes. The epididymal epithelium is characterized by cell-to-cell junctions that are able to form the blood-epididymal barrier (BEB). This intricate epithelial structure provides the optimal microenvironment needed for epididymal sperm maturation. To date, no notions have been reported regarding a putative role of ANKRD31 in correct BEB formation. In our work, we generated an\n                    <jats:italic>Ankrd31<\/jats:italic>\n                    knockout male mouse model (\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Ankrd31\n                      <jats:sup>\u2013\/\u2013<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    ) and characterized its reproductive phenotype.\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Ankrd31\n                      <jats:sup>\u2013\/\u2013<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice were infertile and exhibited oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (a low number of immotile SPZ with abnormal morphological features). In addition, a complete deregulation of BEB was found in\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Ankrd31\n                      <jats:sup>\u2013\/\u2013<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    , due to cell-to-cell junction anomalies. In order to suggest that BEB deregulation may depend on\n                    <jats:italic>Ankrd31<\/jats:italic>\n                    gene deletion, we showed the physical interaction among ANKRD31 and some epithelial junction proteins in wild-type (WT) epididymides. In conclusion, the current work shows a key role of ANKRD31 in the control of germ cell progression as well as sperm and epididymal integrity.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcell.2021.741975","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,8]],"date-time":"2021-11-08T08:36:49Z","timestamp":1636360609000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Ankrd31 in Sperm and Epididymal Integrity"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Francesco","family":"Manfrevola","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guillaume","family":"Martinez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Charles","family":"Coutton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Domenico","family":"Rocco","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karine","family":"Reynaud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yves","family":"Le Vern","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pascal","family":"Froment","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linda","family":"Beauclair","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Denise","family":"Aubert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Riccardo","family":"Pierantoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rosanna","family":"Chianese","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Florian","family":"Guillou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"426","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2327-4","article-title":"Ensuring meiotic DNA break formation in the mouse pseudoautosomal region.","volume":"582","author":"Acquaviva","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1353","DOI":"10.1152\/physrev.2001.81.3.1353","article-title":"Spectrin and ankyrin-based pathways: metazoan inventions for integrating cells into tissues.","volume":"81","author":"Bennett","year":"2001","journal-title":"Physiol. 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