Division of Reproductive Biology Research

Xu Laboratory

Recent Publications
• Xu, E. Y., F. Moore, R. Reijo Pera (2001) From the cover: A gene family required for human germ cell development evolved from an ancient meiotic gene conserved in metazoans. PNAS Vol 98:7414-7419
• Xu, E. Y., D. Lee, A. Klebes, P. J. Turek, T. Kornberg and R. Reijo Pera (2003) Human BOULE rescues the meiotic defects in infertile flies Human Molecular Genetics. Vol 12(2):169-175.
• Wu, C.-I. and E. Y. Xu (2003) Sexual antagonism and X inactivation- the SAXI hypothesis. Trends in Genetics 19(5): 243-7
• C. Marc Luetjens, E. Y. Xu, Renee A. Reijo Pera, Axel Kamischke, Eberhard Nieschlag, Jörg Gromoll (2004) Association of meiotic arrest in infertile men and lack of BOULE protein expression. J. Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 89(4):1926-33
• Y.-M. Kuo, J. Duncan, S. Westaway,H. Yang, G. Nune, E. Y. Xu, S. Hayflick, and J. Gitschier (2004) Deficiency in pantothenate kinase 2 in a mouse model for Hallervorden-Spatz Syndrome leads to retinal degeneration and azoospermia Human Molecular Genetics 14(1):49-57
• Salmon NA, Reijo Pera RA, Xu EY: A gene trap knockout of the abundant sperm tail protein, outer dense fiber 2, results in preimplantation lethality. Genesis. 2006; 44: 515-22. PMID: 17078042
• Tung, J. Y., Luetjens, C. M., Wistuba, J., Xu, E. Y., Reijo Pera, R. A. and Gromoll, J. (2006). Evolutionary comparison of the reproductive genes, DAZL and BOULE, in primates with and without DAZ. Dev Genes Evol 216, 158-68.
• Lee T, Shah C, and Xu EY: Gene trap mutagenesis: a functional genomics approach towards reproductive research. Mol Hum Reprod. 2007; 13: 771-9. PMID: 17890780
• Xu EY*, Chang R, Salmon NA, Reijo Pera RA: A gene trap mutation of a murine homolog of the Drosophila stem cell factor Pumilio results in smaller testes but does not affect litter size or fertility. Mol Reprod Dev. 2007; 74: 912-21. PMID: 17219433 (Co-corresponding author)
• Yin P, Lin Z, Cheng YH, Marsh EE, Utsunomiya H, Ishikawa H, Xue Q, Reierstad S, Innes J, Thung S, Kim JJ, Xu EY, and SE Bulun: Progesterone receptor regulates Bcl-2 gene expression through direct binding to its promoter region in uterine leiomyoma cells. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007; 92:4459-66. PMID: 17785366
• Bonilla E and Xu EY: Identification and characterization of novel mammalian spermatogenic genes conserved from fly to human. Mol Hum Reprod. 2008; 14: 137-42. PMID: 18256174
• Nicholas CR, Xu EY, Banani SF, Hammer RE, Hamra FK, Reijo Pera RA: Characterization of a Dazl-GFP germ cell-specific reporter. Genesis. 2009; 47: 74-84. PMID: 19133679
• Zhu, J., Braun, E. L., Kohno, S., Antenos, M., Xu, E. Y., Cook, R. W., Lin, S. J., Moore, B. C., Guillette, L. J., Jr., Jardetzky, T. S. et al. (2010). Phylogenomic analyses reveal the evolutionary origin of the inhibin alpha-subunit, a unique TGFbeta superfamily antagonist. PLoS ONE 5, e9457.
• Vangompel, M. J. and Xu, E. Y. (2010). A novel requirement in mammalian spermatid differentiation for the DAZ-family protein Boule. Hum Mol Genet. 19 (12):2360-9 (Featured Cover article)
• Shah, C., M. J. W. VanGompel, V. Naeem, Y. Chen, T. Lee, N. Angeloni, Y. Wang and Xu, E. Y.(2010) Widespread presence of BOULE among animals and conservation of its ancient reproductive function. PLoS Genet. Jul 15;6(7):e1001022 (Highlighted in Nature 466,417 22 July 2010; Press coverage in National Geographic, Discover Magazine, Discover News, Science News, CBC.ca etc.)