Comparative Expression Analysis of Spermatogonial Stem Cell Markers in Cattle and Sheep

Subject Areas : Camel

F. Nasri Ahangar ¹ , M. Zandi ² , M.R. Sanjabi ³ , A. Ghaedrahmati ⁴

1 - Department of Agriculture, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Agriculture, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Agriculture, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Animal Science, Agricultural Science and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Khuzestan, Iran

Received: 2023-01-11 Accepted : 2023-06-24 Published : 2023-12-01

Keywords: Molecular markers, pluripotency, cell specific Factor, surface markers, transcrip-tion factor,

Abstract :

Spermatogenesis is supported by stem cells called spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), which are capable of transmitting information to the next generation. However, little is known on the specific markers of SSCs in farm animals. We investigated the expression of cdh1, cmyc, bcl6b, plzf, gfra1, nanog, vasa, thy1 and uchl1, as specific markers of SSCs, in bovine and ovine SSCs. The expression of the studied genes was conducted by real-time polymerase chain reaction method. For this reason, the enzymatic digestion process for two times was used to achieve SSCs from male calves and ram lambs testes. Then, filtration and differential plating techniques increased the SSC number in the cell suspension caused by mechanical and enzymatic digestions. Sertoli cells treated with Mitomycin-C were applied to obtain the feeder layer. Culturing of the stem cells was done on Sertoli cell feeder layer. Our results revealed that the expression of nanog and plzf was similar in bovine and ovine SSCs. Unlike bovine SSC colonies, cdh1 gene was not expressed in colony of ovine SSCs and its use as a specific marker of sheep SSCs is not suggested. The expression of uchl, vasa, thy1 and cdh1 genes was significantly higher in bovine SSCs and the bcl6b and cmyc expression was significantly higher in ovine SSCs compared to each other (P<0.05). From the results of this study nanog, plzf, uchl1, vasa, thy1 and cdh1 are suggested as markers of bovine and nanog, plzf, bcl6b and cmyc genes as markers of ovine SSCs.

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