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Updated: Jul 26, 2025
Analysis of Epididymal Protein Synthesis and Secretion
Published on: August 25, 2018
Transcriptome profiling of the initial segment and proximal caput of mouse epididymis
Xiao Wang1, Fanyi Qiu1, Junjie Yu1
1Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao, China.
Background:
The proximal region of the mouse epididymis plays a pivotal role in sperm transport, sperm maturation, and male fertility. Several studies have focused on segment-dependent gene expression of the mouse epididymis through high-throughput sequencing without the precision of the microdissection.
Methods And Results:
Herein, we isolated the initial segment (IS) and proximal caput (P-caput) by physical microdissection using an Lcn9-cre; Rosa26 mouse model. We defined the transcriptome changes of caput epididymis by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), which identified 1,961 genes that were abundantly expressed in the IS and 1,739 genes that were prominently expressed in the P-caput. In addition, we found that many differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were predominantly or uniquely expressed in the epididymis and region-specific genes were highly associated with transport, secretion, sperm motility, fertilization, and male fertility.
Conclusion:
Thus, this study provides an RNA-seq resource to identify region-specific genes in the caput epididymis. The epididymal-selective/specific genes are potential targets for male contraception and may provide new insights into understanding segment-specific epididymal microenvironment-mediated sperm transport, maturation, and male fertility.
