DIS3L2 regulates male germ cell mesiosis in mice

Male germ cell meiosis is essential for generating haploid spermatozoa in mice. Here, we investigate the essential role of DIS3L2 in male germ cell meiosis in mice. Conditional inactivation of DIS3L2 in spermatocytes with Stra8-cre transgenic mice have severely impaired meiotic progression, which results in defective meosis and spermatogenesis associated with a Sertoli cell-only syndrome and adult sterility. RNA-seq analysis reveales that Dis3l2 deficiency causes significant dysregulation of the expression of transcripts in mutant testes. Meiosis-assocaited genes are significantly decreased in the absence of DIS3L2. Therefore, we show that DIS3L2 ribonuclease plays a critical role in germ cell meiosis during spermatogenesis in mice. RNA-seq was performed using postnatal day 12 (P12) testes between control and Dis3 cKO mice in order to identify the differentially expressed genes.