The Single-Cell Landscape of Spermioteleosis in Mouse and Pig
Spermatozoa acquired motility and matured in epididymis after production in testis; however, the characteristics of sperm development between species remain poorly understood. In this study, we constructed a single-cell RNA dataset to investigate spermatogenesis characteristics between mouse and pig. This approach enabled us to analyze cell compositions in both testicular and epididymal tissues, providing insights into changes occurring during meiosis and spermiogenesis in mouse and pig. Additionally, distinct gene expression signatures associated with various spermatogenic cell types were identified. The findings revealed differences in testicular cell clusters between these two species. Furthermore, different regions of the epididymis displayed unique gene expression patterns among its epithelial cells. Notably, regional gene expression patterns were observed within principal cell clusters of mouse epididymis as well. Moreover, we analyzed specific characteristics of differentially expressed genes related to the epididymis in mouse and pig, identifying potential marker genes associated with sperm development and maturation for each species studied. Overall design: Testicular and epididymal tissues were collected from three sexually mature male C57BL/6J mice and three sexually mature Landrace pigs for single cell sequencing to compare the differences in testicular spermatogonesis and epididymal maturation between these two species