Wdr17 Regulates Cell Proliferation, Cell Cycle Progression and Apoptosis in Mouse Spermatocyte Cell Line
Xin Zhao,
Taili Jin,
Xi Ji,
Qiuyan Zhang,
Xianyu Zhang,
Zhenfang Wu,
Zicong Li,
Huaqiang Yang
Affiliations
Xin Zhao
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Taili Jin
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Xi Ji
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Qiuyan Zhang
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Xianyu Zhang
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Zhenfang Wu
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Zicong Li
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Huaqiang Yang
National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
We identified Wdr17 as a highly expressed gene in pachytene spermatocytes by transcriptomic analysis of mouse testis. Germ cell-deficient infertile mouse models had significantly reduced Wdr17 expression. We performed gene interference and overexpression in the mouse spermatocyte cell line GC-2spd(ts) and investigated how Wdr17 affects spermatocyte growth and development. Our results showed that Wdr17 suppression significantly decreased cell growth rate and increased cell apoptosis in GC-2spd(ts) cells. Wdr17 suppression also arrested the cell cycle at the G1 phase. On the contrary, Wdr17 overexpression significantly promoted cell proliferation and inhibited cell apoptosis in GC-2spd(ts) cells. More cells were enriched at the S stage with a concomitant reduction of cells at the G1 stage. Wdr17 promotes mouse spermatocyte proliferation by advancing cell cycle progression and inhibiting cell apoptosis, indicating its potential role in regulating spermatogenesis in the mouse.
