Dissecting the Initiation of Female Meiosis in the Mouse at Single-cell Resolution

Overview

Journal Cell Mol Life Sci

Publisher Springer

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 May 6

PMID 32367190

Citations 26

Authors

Wei Ge

Jun-Jie Wang

Rui-Qian Zhang

Shao-Jing Tan

Fa-Li Zhang

Wen-Xiang Liu

Lan Li

Xiao-Feng Sun

Shun-Feng Cheng

Paul W Dyce

Massimo De Felici

Wei Shen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Meiosis is one of the most finely orchestrated events during gametogenesis with distinct developmental patterns in males and females. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in this process remain not well known. Here, we report detailed transcriptome analyses of cell populations present in the mouse female gonadal ridges (E11.5) and the embryonic ovaries from E12.5 to E14.5 using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA seq). These periods correspond with the initiation and progression of meiosis throughout the first stage of prophase I. We identified 13 transcriptionally distinct cell populations and 7 transcriptionally distinct germ cell subclusters that correspond to mitotic (3 clusters) and meiotic (4 clusters) germ cells. By analysing cluster-specific gene expression profiles, we found four cell clusters correspond to different cell stages en route to meiosis and characterized their detailed transcriptome dynamics. Our scRNA seq analysis here represents a new important resource for deciphering the molecular pathways driving female meiosis initiation.

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