RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Cell adhesion and immune response, two main functions altered in the transcriptome of seasonally regressed testes of two mammalian species
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.01.12.476048
DO 10.1101/2022.01.12.476048
A1 Francisca M. Real
A1 Miguel Lao-Pérez
A1 Miguel Burgos
A1 Stefan Mundlos
A1 Darío G. Lupiáñez
A1 Rafael Jiménez
A1 Francisco J. Barrionuevo
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/12/2022.01.12.476048.abstract
AB In species with seasonal breeding, male specimens undergo substantial testicular regression during the non-breeding period of the year. However, the molecular mechanisms that control this biological process are largely unknown. Here, we report a transcriptomic analysis on the Iberian mole, Talpa occidentalis, in which the desquamation of live, non-apoptotic germ cells is the major cellular event responsible for testis regression. By comparing testes at different reproductive states (active, regressing and inactive), we demonstrate that the molecular pathways controlling the cell adhesion function in the seminiferous epithelium, such as the MAPK, ERK and TGF-β signalling, are altered during the regression process. In addition, inactive testes display a global upregulation of genes associated with immune response, indicating a selective loss of the “immune privilege” that normally operates in sexually active testes. Interspecies comparative analyses using analogous data from the Mediterranean pine vole, a rodent species where testis regression is controlled by halting meiosis entry, revealed a common gene expression signature in the regressed testes of these two evolutionary distant species. Our study advances in the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms associated to gonadal seasonal breeding, highlighting the existence of a conserved transcriptional program of testis involution across mammalian clades.Research Highlights By comparing the trascriptomes of the testes from males of the iberian mole, Talpa occidentalis (order Eulipotyphla), captured at different stages of the seasonal breeding cycle of this species, we show that two main functions are altered during seasonal testis regression: cell adhesion and immune response. The fact that the same functions alre also altered in the Mediterranean pine vole, Microtus duodecimcostatus (order Rodentia), evidences the existence of a conserved transcriptional program of testis regression across mammalian clades.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.