Screening the stage-specific expression gene from different germ cells of rat

Objective: To screen the stage-specific expression genes from rat spermatogonia, pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids. Methods: Highly purified spermatogonia were isolated from 9-day-old rats, pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids from adult rats by sedimentation velocity at unit gravity, using 2%-4% BSA gradient in DMEM/F12 medium. A mRNA differential display method was used for screening the stage-specific expression gene. Results: Nineteen differentially expressed cDNA fragments were obtained. After excluding the false positive cDNA fragments by dot blot, 13 cDNAs were selected to clone and sequence. To obtain longer cDNAs, six ESTs were used to screen the rat testis λ-zap II cDNA library. Two longer cDNA fragments, designated as LY21 and LM66, were obtained. The analysis with DNAMAN software indicated that LY21 had a long open reading frame coding 372 amino acids while LM66 had no long open reading frame. LY21 were highly homologous with hnRNP H1. To observe the expression patterns of LY21 gene in the testicular cells, we performed in situ hybridization on testis sections from adult rats. The LY21 gene expression was found in the spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes.Conclusion: This study indicated that LY21 gene was associated with spermatogenesis. Further studies will be needed to explore the function of LY21.