Large-scale analysis of human and mouse RNA-seq datasets to identify undiscovered male reproductive tract-specific genes (mouse)

The development of a safe and effective, reversible, non-hormonal contraceptive method for men has been an ongoing effort for the past few decades, yet none have reached clinical trials. To advance progress, further identification of novel reproductive tract-specific, potentially druggable protein targets is imperative. In this study, we expand on previous single tissue, single species studies by integrating analysis of a vast number of publicly available human and mouse RNA- seq datasets whose initial published purpose was not focused on identifying male reproductive tract-specific targets. We also incorporate analysis of additional newly acquired human and mouse testis and epididymis samples to increase the number of targets identified. Enclosed in this accession is the RNA-seq sequence data for the 9 new mouse epididymis segment samples we processed for analysis. The de novo isolated mouse epididymis segments (caput, corpus, and cauda) included in this study were obtained from dissection of 3 month old B6/129 mice.