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. 2017 Sep 19;8:598. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00590-9

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© The Author(s) 2017

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Fig. 7 — Role of androgen-responsive miR-471-5p in Sertoli cell. Model showing miR-471-5p regulation of Sertoli cell functions. We posit that lower than normal levels of androgen will increase miR-471-5p expression in Sertoli cells, leading to inhibition of target genes including Dock1 (Dock180), Atg12, Tecpr1, and Becn1. The decreased levels of Dock180 and other autophagy-associated genes in turn impairs LAP by inhibiting engulfment and/or phagolysosome maturation and consequently clearance of apoptotic germ cells by the Sertoli cells. In addition to LAP-associated proteins, miR-471-5p also regulates expression of BTB associated proteins, including Dsc2. Since Dsc2 is an integral component of desmosome junction, which is the primary attachment site for developing germ cell, it is possible that miR-471-5p promotes immature release of germ cells and consequently their apoptosis via Dsc2. Taken together, our results suggest that maintaining an optimal level of key genes, which are important for engulfment and clearance of apoptotic germ cells as well as BTB integrity in Sertoli cells, is critical for proper germ development and differentiation and male fertility. GC- Germ cell