NCBI Summary:
The protein encoded by this gene contains ten Armadillo repeat motifs (ARMs) and one HEAT repeat, and is thought to be involved in ciliary and flagellar movement. This protein has been shown to localize to the ciliary axonemes and at the ciliary base of respiratory cells. Studies indicate that mutations in this gene cause partial outer dynein arm (ODA) defects in respiratory cilia. The cilia of cells with mutations in this gene displayed either reduced ciliary beat frequency and amplitude, or, complete immotility. Some individuals with primary ciliary dyskensia (PCD) have been shown to have mutations in this gene. PCD is characterized by chronic airway disease and left/right body asymmetry defects. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2015]
General function
RNA binding
Comment
Cellular localization
Cytoplasmic
Comment
Ovarian function
Oocyte maturation, Early embryo development
Comment
Circular RNA profiling in the oocyte and cumulus cells reveals that circARMC4 is essential for porcine oocyte maturation. Cao Z et al. (2019) Thousands of circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been recently discovered in cumulus cells and oocytes from several species. However, the expression and function of circRNA during porcine oocyte meiotic maturation have been never examined. Here, we separately identified 7,067 and 637 circRNAs in both cumulus cells and oocytes via deep sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Further analysis revealed that a faction of circRNAs is differentially expressed (DE) in a developmental stage-specific manner. The host genes of DE circRNAs are markedly enriched to multiple signaling pathways associated with cumulus cell function and oocyte maturation. Additionally, most DE circRNAs harbor several miRNA targets, suggesting that these DE circRNAs potentially act as miRNA sponge. Importantly, we found that maternal circARMC4 knockdown by siRNA microinjection caused a severely impaired chromosome alignment, and significantly inhibited first polar body extrusion and early embryo development. Taken together, these results demonstrate for the first time that circRNAs are abundantly and dynamically expressed in a developmental stage-specific manner in cumulus cells and oocytes, and maternally expressed circARMC4 is essential for porcine oocyte meiotic maturation and early embryo development.//////////////////