title: The conserved transcriptome in human and rodent male gametogenesis.
abstract: We report a cross-species expression profiling analysis of the human, mouse, and rat male meiotic transcriptional program, using enriched germ cell populations, whole gonads, and high-density oligonucleotide microarrays (GeneChips). Among 35% of the protein-coding genes present in rodent and human genomes that were found to be differentially expressed between germ cells and somatic controls, a key group of 357 conserved core loci was identified that displays highly similar meiotic and postmeiotic patterns of transcriptional induction across all three species. Genes known to be important for sexual reproduction are significantly enriched among differentially expressed core loci and a smaller group of conserved genes not detected in 17 nontesticular somatic tissues, correlating transcriptional activation and essential function in the male germ line. Some genes implicated in the etiology of cancer are found to be strongly transcribed in testis, suggesting that these genes may play unexpected roles in sexual reproduction. Expression profiling data further identified numerous conserved genes of biological and clinical interest previously unassociated with the mammalian male germ line.
authors.affiliation: Biozentrum and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Klingelbergstrasse 50-70, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chalmel
authors.forename: Antoine D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Rolland
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Niederhauser-Wiederkehr
authors.forename: Sanny S W
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Demougin
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gattiker
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Patard
authors.forename: Debra J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wolgemuth
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jégou
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Primig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D033481:Chromosomes, Mammalian / Q000235:genetics; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics*; D005718:Gametogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D009928:Organ Specificity; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism*; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger