Testis samples from Alkbh1 wild-type and KO mice

The aim of the study was to elucidate the role of Alkbh1 by targeted deletion in C57/BL6 mice. Alkb deficiency results in sex-ratio distortion of offspring and apoptosis in adult testes, most likely caused by defects in the pachytene stage during spermatogenesis. Due to the pivotal role of Alkbh1 in mouse survival and potentially in germ cells, we searched for Alkbh1-regulated genes in adult testes. Testes from 12 week old mice were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We used testes from 3 wild type mice and 3 KO mice本研究旨在通过在C57/BL6小鼠（C57/BL6 mice）中进行靶向敲除（targeted deletion），阐明Alkbh1（Alkbh1）的功能。Alkb缺失可导致后代性别比例失衡及成年睾丸细胞凋亡（apoptosis），其机制极有可能与精子发生（spermatogenesis）过程中粗线期（pachytene stage）的发育缺陷相关。鉴于Alkbh1在小鼠存活及生殖细胞（germ cells）中可能发挥的关键作用，本研究对成年睾丸中受Alkbh1调控的基因进行了筛选。本研究选取12周龄小鼠的睾丸开展RNA提取（RNA extraction），并在Affymetrix基因芯片（Affymetrix microarrays）上进行杂交实验，实验所用的睾丸样本分别来自3只野生型（wild type）小鼠与3只基因敲除（KO，knockout）小鼠。