DNA Organizer Links Fertility and Cancer Risk
- A research team at Kyoto University has discovered STAG3-cohesin, a new mitotic cohesin complex that helps establish the unique DNA architecture of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), the stem...
- Mitinori Saitou, Director/Principal Investigator at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi), Kyoto University (also Professor at the Graduate School of Medicine), Dr.
“`html
New Cohesin Complex Discovered: STAG3-Cohesin and its Role in Sperm Production and Cancer
A research team at Kyoto University has discovered STAG3-cohesin, a new mitotic cohesin complex that helps establish the unique DNA architecture of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), the stem cells that give rise to sperm. This “DNA organizer” is crucial for sperm production in mice: without STAG3, SSCs cannot differentiate properly, leading to a fertility problem. In humans, the researchers found that STAG3 is highly expressed in immune B cells and in B-cell lymphomas (a type of blood cancer), and blocking it slowed the growth of these cells. This discovery might open the door to new strategies for treating infertility and certain cancers.
This research is led by Prof. Mitinori Saitou, Director/Principal Investigator at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi), Kyoto University (also Professor at the Graduate School of Medicine), Dr. Masahiro Nagano (than Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, currently Research Fellow at ASHBi and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Dr.Bo Hu (then Ph.D. student, currently Research Fellow at ASHBi). The results of this study will be published online in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology at 10:00 am GMT (6:00 pm Japan Standard Time) on August 25, 2025.
Background
Our bodies contain manny different types of cells, yet they all contain the same DNA.What makes each cell type unique is how this DNA is modified, packaged, folded, and organized.Think of DNA as a very long piece of string. Inside every nucleus, about two meters of this DNA string must be folded and stored in a space smaller than the width of a human hair. This folding is highly organized, with special boundaries called insulation that separate different