PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Wei Ge
AU  - Jun-Jie Wang
AU  - Rui-Qian Zhang
AU  - Shao-Jing Tan
AU  - Fa-Li Zhang
AU  - Wen-Xiang Liu
AU  - Lan Li
AU  - Xiao-Feng Sun
AU  - Shun-Feng Cheng
AU  - Paul W. Dyce
AU  - Massimo De Felici
AU  - Wei Shen
TI  - Dissecting the initiation of female meiosis in the mouse at single-cell resolution
AID  - 10.1101/803668
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 803668
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/10/14/803668.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/10/14/803668.full
AB  - Germ cell meiosis is one of the most finely orchestrated events during gametogenesis with distinct developmental patterns in males and females. However, in mammals, the molecular mechanisms involved in this process remain not well known. Here, we report detailed transcriptome analyses of cell populations present in the mouse female gonadal ridges (E11.5) and the embryonic ovaries from E12.5 to E14.5 using single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA seq). These periods correspond with the initiation and progression of meiosis throughout the first stage of prophase I. We identified 13 transcriptionally distinct cell populations and 7 transcriptionally distinct germ cell subclusters that correspond to mitotic (3 clusters) and meiotic (4 clusters) germ cells. By comparing the signature gene expression pattern of 4 meiotic germ cell clusters, we found that the 4 cell clusters correspond to different cell status en route to meiosis progression, and therefore, our research here characterized detailed transcriptome dynamics during meiotic prophase I. Reconstructing the progression of meiosis along pseudotime, we identified several new genes and molecular pathways with potential critical roles in the mitosis/meiosis transition and early meiotic progression. Last, the heterogeneity within somatic cell populations was also discussed and different cellular states were identified. Our scRNA seq analysis here represents a new important resource for deciphering the molecular pathways driving meiosis initiation and progression in female germ cells and ovarian somatic cells.