A Mutation in Is Associated with Arrest of Mammalian Spermatocytes before the First Meiotic Division.

In spite of evolutionary conservation of meiosis, many of the genes that control mammalian meiosis are still unknown. We report here that the ENU-induced mutation, identified in a screen to uncover genes that control mouse meiosis, causes failure of spermatocytes to exit meiotic prophase I via the G2/MI transition. Major events of meiotic prophase I occurred normally in affected spermatocytes and known regulators of the meiotic G2/MI transition were present and functional. Deep sequencing of mutant DNA revealed a mutation located in an intron of gene, encoding microtubule-associated protein 2, and levels of transcript were reduced in mutant testes. This evidence implicates MTAP2 as required directly or indirectly for completion of meiosis and normal spermatogenesis in mammals.