Drosophila melanogaster spermatogenesis expression profile: mitotic, meiotic and post-meiotic cells

We conducted a genome-wide expression analysis of wild-type males using three cell populations isolated from mitotic, meiotic and post-meiotic phases of spermatogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Our approach was to directly isolate testis regions enriched with RNAs from each of the three specific germline phases. We used microarrays to detail the global gene expression profile in spermatogenesis and identified up- and down-regulated genes between two different spermatogenic phases in pairwise comparisons Cell types present at various stages of spermatogenesis are generally located in a gradient along the proximal-distal axis of the testis, however most are not exclusively restricted to any one geographic region. Cells enriched for mitotic, meiotic and post-meiotic phases were obtained by dissection of apical, proximal and distal regions of the testis, respectively