Identification of a novel transcriptional variant in the mouse Sry locus by long-read RNA-seq and conventional RNA-seq

The mammalian sex-determining gene Sry induces male development. Sry is exclusively expressed in Nr5a1-highly expressing gonadal supporting cell precursor, pre-Sertoli cells, with a peak at embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5). We developed a method to enrich pre-Sertoli cells from mouse embryonic gonads carrying Nr5a1-hCD271 (LNGFR) transgene. To examine mRNA expression in pre-Sertoli cells, pre-Sertoli cells were purified and introduced into long-read RNA-seq and conventional RNA seq analyses. Through analyzing those RNA-seq data, we discovered a second exon of mouse Sry. Samples from mouse embryonic gonad at E11.5.