美国犹他大学医学院Bradley R. Cairns研究团队绘制了人类青春期睾丸发育的动态转录细胞图谱。2020年1月9日，《细胞—干细胞》发表了这项成果。

人体睾丸在青春期会经历剧烈的发育和结构变化，包括体细胞小生细胞的增殖和成熟以及生精的发生。为了鉴定这一未被研究的过程，他们描述并分析了来自四个青春期男孩的10,000个睾丸细胞的单细胞转录组，并将其与婴儿和成人的睾丸细胞进行了比较。在青春期期间，未分化的精原细胞在配子发生开始之前先后扩展并分化。

值得注意的是，他们鉴定了睾丸间质和肌样细胞的常见青春期前祖细胞，并描述了控制青春期分化的候选因子。此外，青春期前的睾丸支持细胞在代谢过程中会聚到另一个单独的成熟群体之前，在代谢谱上表现出两个不同的转录状态。通过睾丸激素抑制的转换阴性睾丸的单细胞分析进一步强调了睾丸激素在支持细胞成熟、抗菌肽分泌和精原细胞分化中的作用。

综上所述，他们的有关人类睾丸发育的转录图集为发育变化和伴随男性青春期的关键时事件提供多种见解。

附：英文原文

Title: The Dynamic Transcriptional Cell Atlas of Testis Development during Human Puberty

Author: Jingtao Guo, Xichen Nie, Maria Giebler, Hana Mlcochova, Yueqi Wang, Edward J. Grow, Robin Kim, Melissa Tharmalingam, Gabriele Matilionyte, Cecilia Lindskog, Douglas T. Carrell, Rod T. Mitchell, Anne Goriely, James M. Hotaling, Bradley R. Cairns

Issue&Volume: January 9, 2020

Abstract: The human testis undergoes dramatic developmental and structural changes during puberty,including proliferation and maturation of somatic niche cells, and the onset of spermatogenesis.To characterize this understudied process, we profiled and analyzed single-cell transcriptomesof ～10,000 testicular cells from four boys spanning puberty and compared them to thoseof infants and adults. During puberty, undifferentiated spermatogonia sequentiallyexpand and differentiate prior to the initiation of gametogenesis. Notably, we identifya common pre-pubertal progenitor for Leydig and myoid cells and delineate candidatefactors controlling pubertal differentiation. Furthermore, pre-pubertal Sertoli cellsexhibit two distinct transcriptional states differing in metabolic profiles beforeconverging to an alternative single mature population during puberty. Roles for testosteronein Sertoli cell maturation, antimicrobial peptide secretion, and spermatogonial differentiationare further highlighted through single-cell analysis of testosterone-suppressed transfemaletestes. Taken together, our transcriptional atlas of the developing human testis providesmultiple insights into developmental changes and key factors accompanying male puberty.

DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2019.12.005

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(19)30523-5