Dysregulated genes in undifferentiated spermatogonia and Sertoli cells are associated with the spermatogenic arrest in cattleyak

Abstract

Hybrid male sterility (HMS) is a reproductive isolation mechanism limiting the formation of fertile offspring through interspecific fertilization. Cattleyak is the interspecific hybrid presenting significant heterosis in several economic traits, but HMS restricted its wide reproduction in cettleyak breeding. In this study, we detected the specifically expressed genes of a variety of cells (undifferentiated spermatogonia, primary spermatocytes, secondary spermatocytes, haploid spermatids, sperm, Sertoli cells, Leydig cells, and macrophages) in the testis of yak and cattleyak, and found that the spermatogenesis of cattleyak might be blocked at meiosis I, and the expression of niche factors (NR5A1, GATA4, STAR, CYP11A1, CD68, TNF, and CX3CR1) in undifferentiated spermatogonia niche was abnormal. Then we isolated the undifferentiated spermatogonia and Sertoli cells from yak and cattleyak by enzyme digestion, and detected the specific genes in the two bovid testicular cells as well as the proliferation capacity of the undifferentiated spermatogonia. These results indicated that weak proliferation ability and scarce number of undifferentiated spermatogonia and abnormal gene expressions in Sertoli cells may contribute to male sterility of cattleyak.

Comparative RNA-Seq Analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes in the Sertoli cells of Yak and Cattle-yak

“…All these results suggested that the Sertoli cells of the cattle-yak testis were defective. In our previous study, we successfully cultured Sertoli cells in vitro, and compared the proliferation characteristics and gene expression differences of functional and marker genes of yak and cattle-yak [8] . There has been no deep report about the transcriptome level of Sertoli cells in yak and cattle-yak.…”