title: Comparative analysis of testis transcriptomes associated with male infertility in cattleyak.
abstract: Cattleyak exhibit equivalent adaptability to harsh environment as yak and much higher performances than yak. However, male infertility of cattleyak due to spermatogenic arrest greatly restricts their effective utilization in yak breeding. Although much work has been done to investigate the mechanisms of spermatogenic arrest, there is little information available in regard to the differences in transcriptomic profiling between cattleyak and yak testes. In this work, histologic observation indicated that spermatogonia were the main type of germ cells present in cattleyak testis, whereas all types of germ cells in differentiation were present in yak testis. Transcriptomic profiling identified 2960 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in which 679 were upregulated and 2281 were downregulated in cattleyak. Significantly enriched gene ontology terms comprised a large number of DEGs associated with male infertility of cattleyak. The upregulation of STRA8 and NLRP14 may be associated with the accumulation of undifferentiated spermatogonial cells and serious cellular apoptosis in cattleyak. However, downregulated SPP1, SPIN2B, and PIWIL1 were associated with cell cycle progression and spermatogonial genome integrity, whereas CDKN2C, CYP26A1, OVOL1, GGN, MAK, INSL6, RNF212, TSSK1B, TSSK2, and TSSK6 were involved in meiosis. Furthermore, scores of genes associated with sperm components were also downregulated in cattleyak. Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was involved in the top-listed three significantly enriched pathways, and the downregulation of Wnt3a, PP2A, and TCF/LEF-1 may have contributed to the arrest of spermatogonial differentiation in cattleyak. The data suggest that spermatogenic arrest of cattleyak might occur at the stage of spermatogonial differentiation and get aggravated during meiosis, which results in minimal number of sperms with morphologic abnormalities and structural deficiency lacking fertilization ability.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: caixin2323@126.com.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: yayushumin@163.com.
authors.forename: Shumin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: TserangDonko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mipam
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Wangsheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: SuiZhong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Liuhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Fangfang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Chuanfei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Shixin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D015723:Gene Library; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000378:metabolism / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012313:RNA
keywords: Cattleyak; Male infertility; Spermatogenesis; Testis; Testis transcriptomes