The Meiosis Initiation of Mammalian Spermatogenesis

Reproduction is required for the survival of all animals.Germ cell development,proliferation and differentiation are always the most important in life sciences.Spermatogenesis is an essential and complex development process that ultimately results in production of haploid spermatozoa.Spermatogenesis is a special process of cell proliferation and differentiation which undergoes type A spermatogonia proliferation,type B spermatogonia differentiation into spermatocyte,round spermatid formation through meiosis and these cells will final develop into mature sperm.The initiation of germ cells meiosis is a critical step for spermatogenesis,however,the regulation of meiosis initiation at the molecular level still remains unclear.In recent studies,it has been widely accepted that Stra8 regulation by RA might be the main mechanism of meiosis initiation in mammalian spermatogenesis.Nanos2 and Boule could be involved in the regulation of RA-Stra8 signal pathway.In this paper,we reviewed the recent progress about meiosis initiation during mammalian spermatogenesis.