Transcriptome Analyses in Infertile Men Reveal Germ Cell-specific Expression and Splicing Patterns

Overview

Journal Life Sci Alliance

Specialties Biochemistry
Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2022 Nov 29

PMID 36446526

Authors

Lara M Siebert-Kuss

Henrike Krenz

Tobias Tekath

Marius Woste

Sara Di Persio

Nicole Terwort

Margot J Wyrwoll

Jann-Frederik Cremers

Joachim Wistuba

Martin Dugas

Sabine Kliesch

Stefan Schlatt

Frank Tuttelmann

Jorg Gromoll

Nina Neuhaus

Sandra Laurentino

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The process of spermatogenesis-when germ cells differentiate into sperm-is tightly regulated, and misregulation in gene expression is likely to be involved in the physiopathology of male infertility. The testis is one of the most transcriptionally rich tissues; nevertheless, the specific gene expression changes occurring during spermatogenesis are not fully understood. To better understand gene expression during spermatogenesis, we generated germ cell-specific whole transcriptome profiles by systematically comparing testicular transcriptomes from tissues in which spermatogenesis is arrested at successive steps of germ cell differentiation. In these comparisons, we found thousands of differentially expressed genes between successive germ cell types of infertility patients. We demonstrate our analyses' potential to identify novel highly germ cell-specific markers (TSPY4 and LUZP4 for spermatogonia; HMGB4 for round spermatids) and identified putatively misregulated genes in male infertility (, , , ). Apart from these, we found thousands of genes showing germ cell-specific isoforms (including , , , ). Our approach and dataset can help elucidate genetic and transcriptional causes for male infertility.

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