Identification of novel cytoskeleton protein involved in spermatogenic cells and sertoli cells of non-obstructive azoospermia based on microarray and bioinformatics analysis.

Abstract

Background: During mammalian spermatogenesis, the cytoskeleton system plays a significant role in morphological changes. Male infertility such as non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) might be explained by studies of the cytoskeletal system during spermatogenesis.

Methods: The cytoskeleton, scaffold, and actin-binding genes were analyzed by microarray and bioinformatics (771 spermatogenic cellsgenes and 774 Sertoli cell genes). To validate these findings, we cross-referenced our results with data from a single-cell genomics database.

Results: In the microarray analyses of three human cases with different NOA spermatogenic cells, the expression of TBL3, MAGEA8, KRTAP3-2, KRT35, VCAN, MYO19, FBLN2, SH3RF1, ACTR3B, STRC, THBS4, and CTNND2 were upregulated, while expression of NTN1, ITGA1, GJB1, CAPZA1, SEPTIN8, and GOLGA6L6 were downregulated. There was an increase in KIRREL3, TTLL9, GJA1, ASB1, and RGPD5 expression in the Sertoli cells of three human cases with NOA, whereas expression of DES, EPB41L2, KCTD13, KLHL8, TRIOBP, ECM2, DVL3, ARMC10, KIF23, SNX4, KLHL12, PACSIN2, ANLN, WDR90, STMN1, CYTSA, and LTBP3 were downregulated. A combined analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and STRING, were used to predict proteins' molecular interactions and then to recognize master pathways. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the biological process (BP) mitotic cytokinesis, cytoskeleton-dependent cytokinesis, and positive regulation of cell-substrate adhesion were significantly associated with differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in spermatogenic cells. Moleculare function (MF) of DEGs that were up/down regulated, it was found that tubulin bindings, gap junction channels, and tripeptide transmembrane transport were more significant in our analysis. An analysis of GO enrichment findings of Sertoli cells showed BP and MF to be common DEGs. Cell-cell junction assembly, cell-matrix adhesion, and regulation of SNARE complex assembly were significantly correlated with common DEGs for BP. In the study of MF, U3 snoRNA binding, and cadherin binding were significantly associated with common DEGs.

Conclusion: Our analysis, leveraging single-cell data, substantiated our findings, demonstrating significant alterations in gene expression patterns.