Size changes of protamine 1 mRNA provide a molecular marker to monitor spermatogenesis in wild-type and mutant mice.

We utilized a cDNA encoding the cysteine-rich, tyrosine-containing mouse protamine, mouse protamine 1 (MP1), to detect the presence of several classes of differentiating germ cells in testicular extracts from wild-type and male sterile mutant mice. This assay is based on the changes in the poly (A) length of MP1-mRNA during spermatogenesis. Testicular extracts of sexually mature CD-1 mice contain a heterogeneous population of protamine-1 mRNA ranging in length from 450 to 580 nucleotides. When the protamine-1 probe was hybridized to testicular RNA preparations from 16- to 20-day-old animals, no MP1-mRNA was detected. Twenty-four-day-old mice contain only the 580-nucleotide form of MP1-mRNA. This size class of protamine mRNA is also present in purified populations of round spermatids, whereas elongating spermatids and residual bodies contain mRNAs ranging from 450 to 580 nucleotides in length, which are identical in size to those present in the testes of sexually mature animals. When the protamine cDNA probe was used to examine the progression of spermiogenesis in three male sterile mouse mutants, blind sterile (bs), quaking (qk) and testicular feminization (Tfm), the results demonstrated that each mutant is pathologically distinct. Analysis of the bs mutant revealed a diminution in the amount of both size classes of MP1-mRNA, in agreement with the cytological reports of reduced numbers of haploid spermatogenic cells in these animals. The presence of both size classes of protamine mRNA in the qk mutant indicates that germ-cell differentiation has proceeded at least to the step-12 spermatid in these animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)