Proper timing of a quiescence period in precursor prospermatogonia is required for stem cell pool establishment in the male germline.

Abstract

The stem cell-containing undifferentiated spermatogonial population in mammals, which ensures continual sperm production, arises during development from prospermatogonial precursors. Although a period of quiescence is known to occur in prospermatogonia prior to postnatal spermatogonial transition, the importance of this has not been defined. Here, using mouse models with conditional knockout of the master cell cycle regulator Rb1 to disrupt normal timing of the quiescence period, we found that failure to initiate mitotic arrest during fetal development leads to prospermatogonial apoptosis and germline ablation. Outcomes of single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis indicate that oxidative phosphorylation activity and inhibition of meiotic initiation are disrupted in prospermatogonia that fail to enter quiescence on a normal timeline. Taken together, these findings suggest that key layers of programming are laid down during the quiescent period in prospermatogonia to ensure proper fate specification and fitness in postnatal life.