BACKGROUND Skeletal muscle protein loss is an adaptive response to various patho-physiological situations, and the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is responsible for the degradation of the bulk of muscle proteins. The role of E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes is still poorly understood in skeletal muscle. METHODS We screened for E2s expression levels in C2C12 myotubes submitted to the catabo...

BACKGROUND A variety of genetic variants lead to abnormal human spermatogenesis. The ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2B (UBE2B) plays a significant role in spermatogenesis as Ube2b-knockout male mice are infertile. METHODS In this study, we sequenced the exon and promoter region of UBE2B in 776 patients diagnosed with idiopathic azoospermia (IA) and 709 proven fertile men to examine whether UBE...

Androgen and androgen receptor (AR) play important roles in spermatogenesis, yet detailed androgen/ AR signals in Sertoli cells remain unclear. To identify AR target genes in Sertoli cells, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of testis between mice lacking AR in Sertoli cells (SAR) and their littermate wild-type (WT) mice. Digital gene expression analysis identified 2,276 genes downregulat...

Oligozoospermia (low sperm count) is a common semen deficiency. However, to date, few genetic defects have been identified to cause this condition. Moreover, even fewer molecular genetic diagnostic tests are available for patients with oligozoospermia in the andrology clinic. Based on animal and gene expression studies of oligozoospermia, several molecular pathways may be disrupted in post-meio...

The ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2B gene (UBE2B) is involved in the regular and symmetric organization of the fibrous sheath of sperm flagella. This study aimed to examine the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in UBE2B and infertility in Northeast Chinese men. We carried out a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis for SNPs in 312 f...