MicroRNAs as Regulatory Elements of Mammalian Spermatogenesis

Abstract

: In recent decades, infertility is becoming a public health issue. Male spermatogenesis failure has been considered a major contributory factor to infertility. Mammalian spermatogenesis is a well-defined process, requiring highly regulation processes in both transcriptional and the posttranscriptional levels. Discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs or miR) as essential class of gene expression regulators has provided new insights into a multitude of biological processes including spermatogenesis. In current review study, we first provide a short overview of spermatogenesis process, and then focus on recent studies that have elucidated the essential role of miRNAs in different steps of sperm production.