Haploid gene expression: temporal onset and storage patterns of 13 novel transcripts during rat and mouse spermiogenesis

• Published in: Biology of reproduction Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 499 - 510
• Main Authors: PENTTILÄ, T.-L, LI YUAN, MALI, P, HÖÖG, C, PARVINEN, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison, WI Society for the Study of Reproduction 1995
• Subjects: Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Northern; DNA, Complementary - biosynthesis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression - physiology; Germ Cells - metabolism; Haploidy; In Situ Hybridization; Male; Mammalian male genital system; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; Morphology. Physiology; Poly A - biosynthesis; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Ribonuclease H - metabolism; RNA, Messenger - biosynthesis; Spermatogenesis - physiology; Testis - metabolism; Time Factors; Transcription, Genetic; Vertebrates: reproduction; Molecular hybridization; Rat; Spermiogenesis; In situ; Rodentia; Germinal cell; Testicle; Gene expression; Male genital system; Spermatid; Haploidy; Vertebrata; Specificity; Mammalia; Gene; Mouse; Adult animal; Differentiation
• ISSN: 0006-3363; 1529-7268
• DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod53.3.499

The temporal and spatial expression of thirteen novel spermatid-specific genes corresponding to cDNA clones isolated from
an adult mouse testis library was analyzed. Northern analysis of RNA from seminiferous tubules at defined stages of the rat
and mouse seminiferous epithelial cycle and in situ hybridization of testis sections revealed that these mRNAs were expressed
in a stage-specific manner. The expression of all mRNAs was first detected in early round spermatids, and it increased to
abundance during stages VII-VIII of the epithelial cycle. Twelve out of thirteen mRNAs were found not only in round spermatids
but also in transcriptionally inactive elongated spermatids, suggesting that they are stored and regulated at the translational
level. The variation in the length of the poly(A) tail was detected for four of the transcripts, represented by cDNA clones
MTEST70, MTEST627, MTEST641, and MTEST643 at defined stages of the cycle. Similarity in the stage-specific expression pattern
displayed by this group of haploid-specific genes strongly suggests the presence of common regulatory mechanisms that act
during spermiogenesis, and these genes also provide a means for further studies of these mechanisms.