Abstract
We identified Wdr17 as a highly expressed gene in pachytene spermatocytes by transcriptomic analysis of mouse testis. Germ cell-deficient infertile mouse models had significantly reduced Wdr17 expression. We performed gene interference and overexpression in the mouse spermatocyte cell line GC-2spd(ts) and investigated how Wdr17 affects spermatocyte growth and development. Our results showed that Wdr17 suppression significantly decreased cell growth rate and increased cell apoptosis in GC-2spd(ts) cells. Wdr17 suppression also arrested the cell cycle at the G1 phase. On the contrary, Wdr17 overexpression significantly promoted cell proliferation and inhibited cell apoptosis in GC-2spd(ts) cells. More cells were enriched at the S stage with a concomitant reduction of cells at the G1 stage. Wdr17 promotes mouse spermatocyte proliferation by advancing cell cycle progression and inhibiting cell apoptosis, indicating its potential role in regulating spermatogenesis in the mouse.