Sam68 insures proper 3'-end pre-mRNA processing during germ cell differentiation

Male germ cells express the widest repertoire of transcript variants in mammalian tissues. Nevertheless, factors and mechanisms underlying such pronounced diversity are largely unknown. The splicing regulator Sam68 is highly expressed in meiotic cells and its ablation results in defective spermatogenesis. Herein, we uncover an extensive splicing program operated by Sam68 across meiosis, primarily characterized by alternative last exon (ALE) regulation in genes of functional relevance for spermatogenesis. Lack of Sam68 preferentially causes premature transcript termination at internal polyadenylation sites. RNA-Seq data for purified spermatocytes and spermatids isolated from Sam68+/+ and Sam68-/- mice.雄性生殖细胞在哺乳动物各类组织中表达的转录本变体（transcript variant）种类最为丰富。然而，介导这种显著多样性的分子因素与调控机制在很大程度上仍不明确。剪接调控因子Sam68在减数分裂细胞中呈高表达状态，其基因敲除会引发精子发生缺陷。本研究揭示了Sam68在整个减数分裂进程中调控的一套广泛剪接程序，该程序的核心特征为在与精子发生功能相关的基因中开展可变最后外显子（Alternative Last Exon, ALE）调控。Sam68缺失会优先诱导转录在内部多腺苷酸化位点处提前终止。本数据集包含从Sam68野生型（Sam68+/+）与敲除型（Sam68-/-）小鼠中分离纯化的精母细胞及精子细胞的RNA测序（RNA-Seq）数据。