The transcription factor TCFL5 responds to A-MYB to elaborate the male meiotic program in mice
Katharine Cecchini, Adriano Biasini, Tianxiong Yu, Martin Säflund, Haiwei Mou, Amena Arif, Atiyeh Eghbali, Cansu Colpan, Ildar Gainetdinov, Dirk G. de Rooij, Zhiping Weng, Phillip D. Zamore, Deniz M. Özata
Abstract
In brief: The testis-specific transcription factor, TCFL5, expressed in pachytene spermatocytes regulates the meiotic gene expression program in collaboration with the transcription factor A-MYB. Abstract: In male mice, the transcription factors STRA8 and MEISON initiate meiosis I. We report that STRA8/MEISON activates the transcription factors A-MYB and TCFL5, which together reprogram gene expression after spermatogonia enter into meiosis. TCFL5 promotes the transcription of genes required for meiosis, mRNA turnover, miR-34/449 production, meiotic exit, and spermiogenesis. This transcriptional architecture is conserved in rhesus macaque, suggesting TCFL5 plays a central role in meiosis and spermiogenesis in placental mammals. Tcfl5em1/em1 mutants are sterile, and spermatogenesis arrests at the mid- or late-pachytene stage of meiosis. Moreover, Tcfl5+/em1 mutants produce fewer motile sperm.