Identification of a novel transcriptional variant in the mouse Sry locus by long-read RNA-seq and conventional RNA-seq

The mammalian sex-determining gene Sry induces male development. Sry is exclusively expressed in Nr5a1-highly expressing gonadal supporting cell precursor, pre-Sertoli cells, with a peak at embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5). We developed a method to enrich pre-Sertoli cells from mouse embryonic gonads carrying Nr5a1-hCD271 (LNGFR) transgene. To examine mRNA expression in pre-Sertoli cells, pre-Sertoli cells were purified and introduced into long-read RNA-seq and conventional RNA seq analyses. Through analyzing those RNA-seq data, we discovered a second exon of mouse Sry. Overall design: Samples from mouse embryonic gonad at E11.5.

哺乳动物性别决定基因Sry可诱导雄性发育。Sry仅在高表达Nr5a1的性腺支持细胞前体——前支持细胞（pre-Sertoli cells）中特异性表达，其表达峰值出现在胚胎第11.5天（E11.5）。本研究开发了一种从携带Nr5a1-hCD271（LNGFR）转基因的小鼠胚胎性腺中富集前支持细胞的方法。为检测前支持细胞内的mRNA表达情况，研究人员对纯化得到的前支持细胞开展了长读长RNA测序（long-read RNA-seq）与常规RNA测序（conventional RNA seq）分析。通过对上述RNA测序数据的分析，本研究发现了小鼠Sry基因的第二个外显子。实验整体设计：样本取自胚胎第11.5天（E11.5）的小鼠胚胎性腺。