Spermatogenesis is a highly regulated process that produces sperm to transmit genetic information to the next generation. Although extensively studied in mice, our current understanding of primate spermatogenesis is limited to populations defined by state-specific markers from rodent data. As between-species differences have been reported in the duration and differentiation hierarchy of this process, it remains unclear how molecular markers and cell states are conserved or have diverged from mice to man. To address this challenge, we employ single-cell RNA sequencing to identify transcriptional signatures of major germ and somatic cell types of the testes in human, macaque, and mice. This approach reveals similarities and differences in expression throughout spermatogenesis, including the stem/progenitor pool of spermatogonia, markers of differentiation, potential regulators of meiosis, RNA turnover during spermatid differentiation, and germ cell-soma communication. These datasets provide a rich foundation for future targeted mechanistic studies of primate germ cell development and in vitro gametogenesis.

精子发生是一个高度受管制的过程，它产生精子以将遗传信息传递给下一代。尽管在小鼠中进行了广泛研究，但我们目前对灵长类动物精子发生的理解仅限于由啮齿动物数据中的状态特定标记定义的种群。由于已经报道了该过程的持续时间和分化等级的物种间差异，目前尚不清楚分子标记和细胞状态如何保守或从小鼠到人发生分歧。为了应对这一挑战，我们采用单细胞 RNA 测序来识别人类、猕猴和小鼠睾丸的主要细菌和体细胞类型的转录特征。这种方法揭示了整个精子发生过程中表达的异同，包括精原细胞的茎/祖细胞池，分化标志物、减数分裂的潜在调节因子、精子细胞分化过程中的 RNA 周转以及生殖细胞-体细胞通讯。这些数据集为未来灵长类动物生殖细胞发育的靶向机制研究提供了丰富的基础。体外配子发生。