Stage‐specific and tissue‐specific expression characteristics of differentially expressed genes during mouse spermatogenesis

Abstract

Spermatogenesis occurs in successive mitotic, meiotic, and post-meiotic phase, and involves a number of unique processes including meiosis and dramatic morphological changes. The unique differentiation mechanisms of spermatogenesis suggest the existence of germ-cell-specific molecules. The most straight forward strategy to elucidate differentiation mechanisms is to identify and characterize differentiation-specific molecules and their associated genes in germ cells. However, only a few genes specifically involved in spermatogenesis have been studied. In the present study, six different types of spermatogenic cells (primitive type A spermatogonia, type B spermatogonia, preleptotene spermatocytes, pachytene spermatocytes, round spermatids, and elongating spermatids) were isolated from Balb/c mice testes using velocity sedimentation and Atlas cDNA arrays containing 1,176 known mouse genes were used to determine the gene expression profiles of the spermatogenic cells. The expression of 260 genes were detected in six different stages of spermatogenic cells and a number of genes showed differential expression. The 23 differentially expressed genes were further analysed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for their stage-specific and tissue-specific expression characteristics. Based on the results of RT-PCR, six genes highly express in both primitive type A and type B spermatogonia, four genes up-regulate in type B spermatogonia, two genes up-regulate in spermatocytes, two genes up-regulate in spermatids, three genes express constantly from primitive A spermatogonia to elongating spermatids, two genes express constantly from primitive A spermatogonia to round spermatids, two genes do not change in their expression during spermatogenesis, two genes can be detected highly in adult testis, but are undetectable in spermatogenic cells. The tissue-specific expression characteristics of the 23 genes showed that some of them specifically expressed in testes or other tissues. These data provide new information for further studies into spermatogenesis-related genes and may lead to the identification of genes with potential relevance to the differentiation of spermatogenic cells. In addition, some of these genes could be considered to be used as the molecular markers for different stages of spermatogenic cells.

Evolutionarily Conserved Mammalian Adenine Nucleotide Translocase 4 Is Essential for Spermatogenesis

“…The expression of A-Myb, which is a transcription factor of the Myb family that is expressed in type B spermatogonia and leptotene to pachytene spermatocytes (29), decreased in the Ant4 Ϫ/Ϫ testis. The expression of Dvl3, which has been shown to be present from primitive type A spermatogonia through pachytene spermatocytes (30), also decreased in the Ant4 Ϫ/Ϫ testis. Synaptonemal complex protein 3 (Sycp3), which is restricted to the zygotene to diplotene spermatocytes (31), was markedly decreased in the Ant4 Ϫ/Ϫ testis.…”

“…Transcripts normally present in pachytene spermatocytes and at later stages, such as HoxA4 and CyclinA1 (32, 33), were not detected in the Ant4 Ϫ/Ϫ testis. In addition, Dvl1, which is expressed in round, elongating, and elongated spermatids (30), was also undetectable in the Ant4 Ϫ/Ϫ testis. These data indicate a decrease in meiotic, specifically at the stage of pachytene and beyond, and an absence of the postmeiotic germ cells in the Ant4 Ϫ/Ϫ testis.…”

Proteomics of spermatogenesis: from protein lists to understanding the regulation of male fertility and infertility

“…1,2 In the last 25 years, advances in molecular biology and genomics have significantly improved our knowledge of spermatogenesis by identifying numerous genes essential for the process. [3][4][5][6] However, these transcriptomic databases do not provide crucial information on the post-transcriptional control of gene expression, changes in protein expression levels or protein modifications. Moreover, transcriptomics poses certain limitations as the expression levels of the majority of mRNAs and proteins are not always correlated.…”

Different expression and activity of the α1 and α4 isoforms of the Na,K-ATPase during rat male germ cell ontogeny

“…Spermatogenesis requires the synchronized regulation of expression of multiple proteins that are essential at specific stages of male germ cell differentiation, and for the function and fertility of the gametes (Hecht 1998, Eddy 2002. Several studies have explored gene expression profiles during different phases of spermatogenesis in an attempt to understand the role of specific proteins in the differentiation of male germ cells (Fujii et al 2002, Sha et al 2002, Sluka et al 2002, Pang et al 2003, Yu et al 2003, Guo et al 2004, Shima et al 2004, Small et al 2005, Wrobel & Primig 2005. Because ion homeostasis is of major importance for the development and physiology of male germ cells, considerable attention has been focused on genes encoding different transporters of the plasma membrane of the cells (Hagiwara et al 1984, Hettwer et al 1985, Darszon et al 1999, Salvatore et al 1999, Calamita et al 2001, Felix et al 2002, Gong et al 2002, Son et al 2002, Tsevi et al 2005.…”