Single-cell transcriptome analysis and in vitro differentiation of testicular cells reveal novel insights into male sterility of the interspecific hybrid cattle-yak

Abstract

Background Interspecific hybridization plays vital roles in enriching animal diversity, while male hybrid sterility (MHS) of the offspring commonly suffered from spermatogenic arrest constitutes the postzygotic reproductive isolation. Cattle-yak, the hybrid offspring of cattle (Bos taurus) and yak (Bos grunniens) can serve as an ideal MHS animal model. Although meiotic arrest was found to contribute to MHS of cattle-yak, yet the cellular characteristics and developmental potentials of male germline cell in pubertal cattle-yak remain to be systematically investigated. Results Single-cell RNA-seq analysis of germline and niche cell types in pubertal testis of cattle-yak and yak indicated that dynamic gene expression of developmental germ cells was terminated at late primary spermatocyte (meiotic arrest) and abnormal components of niche cell in pubertal cattle-yak. Further in vitro proliferation and differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis of specific type of cells revealed that undifferentiated spermatogonia of cattle-yak exhibited defects in viability and proliferation/differentiation potentials. Conclusion Comparative scRNA-seq and in vitro proliferation analysis of testicular cells indicated that not only meiotic arrest contributed to MHS of cattle-yak. Spermatogenic arrest of cattle-yak may originate from the differentiation stage of undifferentiated spermatogonia and niche cells of cattle-yak may provide an adverse microenvironment for spermatogenesis.

Cattle Cell Atlas: a multi-tissue single cell expression repository for advanced bovine genomics and comparative biology

“…Interestingly, spermatocytes displayed a bifurcated differentiation pattern from the early stage (S3) to the late stage (S0) (Fig. 2f), consistent with previous ndings in yaks or cattle-yak hybrids 32 , but not in humans 33 . Furthermore, we identi ed nine pivotal transcription factors (TFs) orchestrating the gametogenesis process (Fig.…”

Single-Nucleus RNA-Seq Reveals Spermatogonial Stem Cell Developmental Pattern in Shaziling Pigs

“…These studies have deepened our understanding of the developmental trajectories of SSCs in their niche in human and mouse models [ 6 , 9 , 10 ]. Presently, the application of single-cell transcriptomics has enabled the investigations of the gene expression dynamics that occur during the development of male germ cells in farm animals, such as chickens [ 11 ], goats [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], sheep [ 15 , 16 ], hybrid cattle-yaks [ 17 , 18 ], yaks [ 19 ], and pigs [ 20 , 21 ].…”