Rai14 (retinoic acid induced protein 14) is involved in regulating f-actin dynamics at the ectoplasmic specialization in the rat testis*.

ABSTRACT: Rai14 (retinoic acid induced protein 14) is an actin binding protein first identified in the liver, highly expressed in the placenta, the testis, and the eye. In the course of studying actin binding proteins that regulate the organization of actin filament bundles in the ectoplasmic specialization (ES), a testis-specific actin-rich adherens junction (AJ) type, Rai14 was shown to be one of the regulatory proteins at the ES. In the rat testis, Rai14 was found to be expressed by Sertoli and germ cells, structurally associated with actin and an actin cross-linking protein palladin. Its expression was the highest at the ES in the seminiferous epithelium of adult rat testes, most notably at the apical ES at the Sertoli-spermatid interface, and expressed stage-specifically during the epithelial c

SUBMITTER: Qian X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3614988 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature