Characterisation of the deleted in azoospermia like (Dazl)-green fluorescent protein mouse model generated by a two-step embryonic stem cell-based strategy to identify pluripotent and germ cells

Longitudinal analysis of somatic and germ-cell telomere dynamics in outbred mice

Although telomere length (TL) shortens with age in most tissues, an age-related increase in length has been described in sperm through a mechanism that is not yet fully understood. Changes in TL with age in the same individual have not been explored. This longitudinal study examines TL dynamics in somatic tissue and gametes during an entire lifespan in an outbred mouse population (from 8 to up to 114 weeks of age). Our findings indicate a reduced life expectancy in males compared to females (84.75 ± 9.23 vs. 113.16 ± 0.20 weeks) and significant variability in TL dynamics between individuals. While with aging, a clear reduction in TL was produced in somatic cells and oocytes, telomeres in sperm cells significantly lengthened. Finally, we found evidence indicating that telomere elongation in sperm during aging may be dependent on different mechanisms, such as the survival of spermatogonia with longer telomeres and the alternative lengthening of telomeres mechanism in meiotic and postmeiotic spermatogenic cells.

Transgenic mouse offspring generated by ROSI

The production of transgenic animals is an important tool for experimental and applied biology. Over the years, many approaches for the production of transgenic animals have been tried, including pronuclear microinjection, sperm-mediated gene transfer, transfection of male germ cells, somatic cell nuclear transfer and the use of lentiviral vectors. In the present study, we developed a new transgene delivery approach, and we report for the first time the production of transgenic animals by co-injection of DNA and round spermatid nuclei into non-fertilized mouse oocytes (ROSI). The transgene used was a construct containing the human CMV immediate early promoter and the enhanced GFP gene. With this procedure, 12% of the live offspring we obtained carried the transgene. This efficiency of transgenic production by ROSI was similar to the efficiency by pronuclear injection or intracytoplasmic injection of male gamete nuclei (ICSI). However, ICSI required fewer embryos to produce the same number of transgenic animals. The expression of Egfp mRNA and fluorescence of EGFP were found in the majority of the organs examined in 4 transgenic lines generated by ROSI. Tissue morphology and transgene expression were not distinguishable between transgenic animals produced by ROSI or pronuclear injection. Furthermore, our results are of particular interest because they indicate that the transgene incorporation mediated by intracytoplasmic injection of male gamete nuclei is not an exclusive property of mature sperm cell nuclei with compact chromatin but it can be accomplished with immature sperm cell nuclei with decondensed chromatin as well. The present study also provides alternative procedures for transgene delivery into embryos or reconstituted oocytes.