{"doi":"10.3389/fcell.2020.580019","title":"Role of Phosphorylated Gonadotropin-Regulated Testicular RNA Helicase (GRTH/DDX25) in the Regulation of Germ Cell Specific mRNAs in Chromatoid Bodies During Spermatogenesis","abstract":"GRTH/DDX25 is a member of the DEAD-box family of RNA helicases that play an essential role in spermatogenesis. GRTH knock-in (KI) mice with the human mutant GRTH gene (R242H) show loss of the phospho-species from cytoplasm with preservation of the non-phospho form in the cytoplasm and nucleus. GRTH KI mice are sterile and lack elongated spermatids and spermatozoa, with spermatogenic arrest at step 8 of round spermatids which contain chromatoid body (CB) markedly reduced in size. We observed an absence of phospho-GRTH in CB of GRTH KI mice. RNA-Seq analysis of mRNA isolated from CB revealed that 1,421 genes show differential abundance, of which 947 genes showed a decrease in abundance and 474 genes showed an increase in abundance in GRTH KI mice. The transcripts related to spermatid development, differentiation, and chromatin remodeling ( Tnp1/2 , Prm1/2/3 , Spem1/2 , Tssk 2/3/6 , Grth , tAce , and Upf2 ) were reduced, and the transcripts encoding for factors involved in RNA transport, regulation, and surveillance and transcriptional and translational regulation ( Eef1a1, Ppp1cc , Pabpc1 , Ybx3 , Tent5b , H2al1m , Dctn2 , and Dync1h1 ) were increased in the CB of KI mice and were further validated by qPCR. In the round spermatids of wild-type mice, mRNAs of Tnp2 , Prm2 , and Grth were abundantly co-localized with MVH protein in the CB, while in GRTH KI mice these were minimally present. In addition, GRTH binding to Tnp1/2 , Prm1/2 , Grth , and Tssk6 mRNAs was found to be markedly decreased in KI. These results demonstrate the importance of phospho-GRTH in the maintenance of the structure of CB and its role in the storage and stability of germ cell-specific mRNAs during spermiogenesis.","journal":"Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology","year":2020,"id":87176,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":12,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9613,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":443673,"name":"Raghuveer Kavarthapu","orcid":"0000-0002-2198-2029","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":396914,"name":"Steven L. Coon","orcid":"0000-0002-5233-0277","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":443674,"name":"Maria Dufau","orcid":"0000-0002-3989-7113","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":362452,"name":"Rajakumar Anbazhagan","orcid":"0000-0001-7643-4479","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":45,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T21:59:31.247492Z","pmid":"33425888","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}