✦ LIBER ✦
CREM: A master-switch regulating the balance between differentiation and apoptosis in male germ cells
✍ Scribed by Paolo Sassone-Corsi
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 38 KB
- Volume
- 56
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1040-452X
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✦ Synopsis
Cyclic AMP-responsive element modulator (CREM) is a transcription factor highly expressed in the post-meiotic germ cells of the testis. Its pivotal role is to regulate the expression of several germ cell-specific genes, a crucial function as demonstrated by the severe phenotype of mice whose CREM gene was mutated by homologous recombination. CREM-deficient male animals are sterile and display a ten-fold increase in the apoptosis of germ cells. Recent results have shown that CREM needs a tissue-specific co-activator, ACT (activator of CREM in testis) to elicit its regulatory function in testis.