Mammalian spermatogenesis is a highly stereotyped and conserved developmental process that is essential for fitness. At the same time, gene expression in spermatogenic cells is rapidly evolving. This combination of features has been suggested to drive rapid fixation of new gene expression patterns. Using a high-resolution dataset comprising bulk and single-cell data from juvenile and adult testes of the opossum Monodelphis domestica, a model marsupial, we define the developmental timing of the spermatogenic first wave in opossum and delineate conserved and divergent gene expression programs across the placental-marsupial split by comparison to equivalent data from mouse, a model placental mammal. Epigenomic data confirmed divergent regulation at the level of transcription, and comparison to data from four additional amniote species identified hundreds of genes with evidence of rapid fixation of expression. This gene set encompasses known and previously undescribed regulators of spermatogenic development.

中文翻译：

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通过负鼠第一波精子发生的转录组学鉴定胎盘哺乳动物种系生物学的进化创新


哺乳动物的精子发生是一个高度刻板且保守的发育过程，对健身至关重要。与此同时，生精细胞中的基因表达正在迅速进化。这种特征组合被认为可以驱动新基因表达模式的快速固定。使用包含来自负鼠 Monodelphis domestica（一种模型有袋动物）幼年和成体睾丸的大量和单细胞数据的高分辨率数据集，我们定义了负鼠产生精子的第一波的发育时间，并通过与来自小鼠的等效数据进行比较来描绘胎盘-有袋动物分裂的保守和不同的基因表达程序，一种模型胎盘哺乳动物。表观基因组数据证实了转录水平的不同调控，并与来自其他四种羊膜动物物种的数据进行比较，确定了数百个具有表达快速固定证据的基因。该基因集包括已知和以前未描述的生精发育调节因子。