Genome-wide Map of R-loop Reveals its interplays with Transcription and Genome Integrity during Germ Cell Meiosis

R-loop is a three-strand nucleic acid structure composed of mRNA and DNA. In mammalian meiotic cells, R-loop mainly distributed at promoter-related regions, and combined with systematically transcriptome analysis showed R-loop was closely related to transcription in meiotic process. Moreover, knockout of Rnaseh1 in meiotic cells caused mice completely sterile with R-loop accumulation and abnormal DSB repairing in spermatocytes. Further analysis showed R-loop accumulation in leptotene/zygotene influenced transcriptional regulation in pachytene stage. Thus, mutual regulation of R-loop and transcription plays essential role in spermatogenesis. A total of 12 samples were analyzed in this study, including WT and Rnaseh1 knock-out spermatogenic cells from two stages, leptotene/zygotene and pachytene. Each biological samples has three replicates.