SRSF10 is essential for progenitor spermatogonia expansion by regulating alternative splicing
Alternative splicing expands the transcriptome and proteome complexity and plays essential roles in tissue development and human diseases. However, how alternative splicing regulates spermatogenesis remains largely unknown. Here, using germ cell-specific knockout mouse model, we demonstrated that the splicing factor Srsf10 is essential for spermatogenesis and male fertility. Depletion of Srsf10 in germ cells had little effect on the formation of SSCs but impeded the expansion of progenitor spermatogonia, leading to the failure of spermatogonia differentiation and meiosis initiation. This was further evidenced by the decreased expression of progenitor cell markers in bulk RNA-seq, and much less progenitor and differentiating spermatogonia in single-cell RNA-seq data. Furthermore, the expression of genes involved in cell cycle was abnormal in all subtypes of spermatogonia identified in single-cell RNA-seq data. Notably, using isolated spermatogonia, we found that Srsf10 depletion disturbed the alternative splicing of hundreds of genes, which were preferentially associated with cell cycle, mitotic cell cycle checkpoint and germ cell development, including Dazl, Kit, Ret, Sycp1, Nasp and Bora. These data suggest that SRSF10 is critical for the expansion of progenitor spermatogonia by regulating alternative splicing, expanding our understanding of the mechanism underlying spermatogenesis.