DIS3 is essential for male germ cell meiosis and spermatogenesis in mice

Male germ cell meiosis is essential for generating haploid spermatozoa in mice. Here, we investigate the essential role of DIS3 in male germ cell meiosis in mice. Conditional inactivation of DIS3 in spermatocytes with Stra8-cre transgenic mice have severely impaired meiotic progression, which results in defective meiosis and spermatogenesis. RNA-seq analysis reveals that Dis3 deficiency causes significant dysregulation of the expression of transcripts in mutant testes. Meiosis-associated genes are significantly decreased in the absence of DIS3. Therefore, we show that DIS3 ribonuclease plays a critical role in germ cell meiosis during spermatogenesis in mice. RNA-seq was performed using postnatal day 17 (P17) testes between control and Dis3 cKO mice in order to identify the differentially expressed genes.雄性生殖细胞减数分裂（meiosis）是小鼠产生单倍体精子的必需过程。本研究旨在探究DIS3在小鼠雄性生殖细胞减数分裂中的核心作用。利用Stra8-cre转基因小鼠在精母细胞中条件性失活DIS3，会严重损害减数分裂进程，进而引发减数分裂与精子发生（spermatogenesis）缺陷。RNA测序（RNA-seq）分析显示，Dis3缺失会导致突变型睾丸中转录本（transcripts）的表达出现显著失调；在DIS3缺失的情况下，减数分裂相关基因的表达水平显著下调。综上，本研究证实DIS3核糖核酸酶（ribonuclease）在小鼠精子发生过程中的生殖细胞减数分裂中发挥关键调控作用。本研究采用出生后第17天（P17）的对照小鼠与Dis3条件性敲除（cKO）小鼠的睾丸组织开展RNA测序（RNA-seq），以筛选鉴定差异表达基因。