Guo Haishan, Liu Jianing, Xu Mingzhen, Zhu Tingqi, Liu Shuangxing, Liu Pingquan, Liu Huayuan, Tang Shi, Li Zhunan, Jin Weiwei, Li Donghua, Tian Yadong, Kang Xiangtao, Sun Guirong
The Shennong Laboratory, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China.
Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Resources (Poultry) Evaluation and Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China.
BMC Genomics. 2025 Aug 13;26(1):746. doi: 10.1186/s12864-025-11944-9.
Spermatogenesis is a pivotal biological process for the precise transmission of paternal genetic information, governed by a highly complex and dynamically regulated testicular microenvironment. Although mammalian research has characterized germ cell development at the single-cell level, differences in reproductive strategies limit the relevance of these findings to avian species.
We employed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to analyze the testes of the "Yufen 1" H line roosters at five distinct developmental stages: birth, rapid testicular development, sexual maturity, physical maturity, and senescence. By constructing a single-cell transcriptomic atlas, we identified ten somatic cell subtypes and four germ cell subtypes, thereby elucidating the dynamic changes in gene expression during spermatogenesis. Notably, our findings indicate that meiosis initiates relatively early in chickens, with the formation of the blood-testis barrier being closely associated with pachytene spermatocytes. Additionally, the testicular microenvironment undergoes age-related adaptive changes. Furthermore, we observed that support cells at 20 and 80 weeks of age exhibit similar transcriptional profiles, while macrophages and T cells play a pivotal role in the formation of the testicular cords and vascular networks during the early developmental stages.
This study offers a comprehensive atlas of testicular development in chickens, elucidating the sequential cell fate transitions from spermatogonial stem cells to mature sperm, alongside the dynamic and intricate developmental trajectories of somatic cells within the testicular microenvironment. These findings present novel insights into avian testicular development and establish a theoretical foundation for future research in reproductive biology and breeding strategies.
精子发生是父系遗传信息精确传递的关键生物学过程，受高度复杂且动态调控的睾丸微环境支配。尽管哺乳动物研究已在单细胞水平上对生殖细胞发育进行了特征描述，但生殖策略的差异限制了这些发现与鸟类物种的相关性。
我们采用单细胞RNA测序（scRNA-seq）分析了“豫粉1号”H系公鸡在五个不同发育阶段（出生、睾丸快速发育、性成熟、体成熟和衰老）的睾丸。通过构建单细胞转录组图谱，我们鉴定出了十种体细胞亚型和四种生殖细胞亚型，从而阐明了精子发生过程中基因表达的动态变化。值得注意的是，我们的研究结果表明，减数分裂在鸡中启动相对较早，血睾屏障的形成与粗线期精母细胞密切相关。此外，睾丸微环境会发生与年龄相关的适应性变化。此外，我们观察到20周龄和80周龄的支持细胞表现出相似的转录谱，而巨噬细胞和T细胞在早期发育阶段的睾丸索和血管网络形成中起关键作用。
本研究提供了鸡睾丸发育的综合图谱，阐明了从精原干细胞到成熟精子的连续细胞命运转变，以及睾丸微环境中体细胞的动态和复杂发育轨迹。这些发现为鸟类睾丸发育提供了新的见解，并为生殖生物学和育种策略的未来研究奠定了理论基础。
