Catalytic Subunit of Protein Phosphatase 2A is Irreplaceable in Meiosis Initiation during spermatocyte meiosis prophase I

As a serine/threonine phosphatase, protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is essential in numerous physiological processes. Our previously study confirmed PP2A dysfunction can cause azoospermia by generating catalytic subunit of PP2A (Ppp2ca) conditional knockout (CKO) in C57BL/6J mice. Here, we further explored the possible mechanisms by focusing on meiosis initiation and spermatogenesis. The deficiency of Ppp2ca in germ cells conspicuously disturbed spermatogonial differentiation and lead to pachytene arrest, accompanied by defects in programmed double-strand break (DSB) repair and meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI). Furthermore, Ppp2ca-deficient spermatocytes exhibited abnormal agglutination and cohesion complex degradation of chromosome, probably contributing to pachytene arrest. Our study demonstrates the irreplaceable role of PP2A in spermatogenesis and provide more evidences on azoospermia etiology. Testis mRNA profiles of 56-day old wild type (WT) and Ppp2ca-cKO mice