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Vertebrate reproductive science and technology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Mouse Tspyl5 promotes spermatogonia proliferation through enhancing Pcna-mediated DNA replication

Xiangyou Leng https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7046-2233 A , Shengyu Xie A , Dachang Tao A , Zhaokun Wang A , Jiaying Shi A , Ming Yi A , Xiaolan Tan A , Xinyue Zhang A , Yunqiang Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7691-7630 A * and Yuan Yang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9206-0312 A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Medical Genetics, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.


Handling Editor: Jessica Dunleavy

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 36, RD23042 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD23042
Submitted: 22 March 2023  Accepted: 7 December 2023  Published online: 8 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Context

The human TSPY1 (testis-specific protein, Y-linked 1) gene is critical for spermatogenesis and male fertility. However, there have been difficulties with studying the mechanism underlying its function, partly due to the presence of the Tspy1 pseudogene in mice.

Aims

TSPYL5 (TSPY-like 5), an autosomal homologous gene of TSPY1 showing a similar expression pattern in both human and mouse testes, is also speculated to play a role in male spermatogenesis. It is beneficial to understand the role of TSPY1 in spermatogenesis by investigating Tspyl5 functions.

Methods

Tspyl5-knockout mice were generated to investigate the effect of TSPYL5 knockout on spermatogenesis.

Key results

Tspyl5 deficiency caused a decline in fertility and decreased the numbers of spermatogonia and spermatozoa in aged male mice. Trancriptomic detection of spermatogonia derived from aged Tspyl5-knockout mice revealed that the Pcna-mediated DNA replication pathway was downregulated. Furthermore, Tspyl5 was proven to facilitate spermatogonia proliferation and upregulate Pcna expression by promoting the ubiquitination-degradation of the TRP53 protein.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that Tspyl5 is a positive regulator for the maintenance of the spermatogonia pool by enhancing Pcna-mediated DNA replication.

Implications

This observation provides an important clue for further investigation of the spermatogenesis-related function of TSPY1.

Keywords: age-related male infertility, CRISPR/Cas9 technology, DNA replication, Pcna, Spermatogonia, transcriptomic analysis, TRP53, Tspyl5.

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