Expression data from testis in mutant mouse lacking retinoic acid synthesizing enzymes in germ cells

In mammals, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is instrumental to spermatogenesis. It is synthesized by two retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (RALDH) present notably in germ cells (GC). In order to determine the contributions of the GC-derived source of ATRA, we have generated mice lacking all RALDH activities in GC. We show that the GC-derived source of ATRA does not perform any specific role despite contributing to two-third of the total amount of ATRA present in the testis. Mice carrying loxP-flanked alleles (L2) of Aldh1a1(tm1Nbg), Aldh1a2 and Aldh1a3(tm1Pcn) were crossed with mice bearing the Tg(Stra8-cre)1Reb transgene. Testis were sampled for analysis at the age of 9 weeks.