Abstract. The DAZAP2 (Deleted in Azoospermia-associated Protein 2) gene encodes an azoospermia-related protein that plays key roles in spermatogenesis, cell cycle regulation, and transcriptional regulation. Here, we employed transcriptome sequencing to analyze porcine testis tissues using long-read and short-read sequencing and identified the DAZAP2 transcripts via RT-PCR. Protein interaction analysis, GO and KEGG enrichment, and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory network construction were performed to elucidate its functional pathways. Furthermore, we assessed the multi-tissue expression of DAZAP2 and the subcellular localization of the DAZAP2 protein. We identified two spliceosomes of the DAZAP2 gene in Banna mini-pig inbred line (BMI) testicular tissue, namely DAZAP2X1 and DAZAP2X2, with DAZAP2X2 being the predominant transcript. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that DAZAP2X2 was associated with ubiquitin–protein ligase binding, positive regulation of protein monoubiquitination and Wnt signaling pathway, indicating its involvement in spermatogenesis. Additionally, we identified nine microRNAs (miRNAs) interacting with DAZAP2X2, including ssc-miR-490-3p, ssc-miR-150, ssc-miR-107, ssc-miR-193a-3p, ssc-miR-497, ssc-miR-192, ssc-miR-383, ssc-miR-129a-5p, and ssc-miR-181a, most of which were associated with spermatogenesis. We found DAZAP2X2 was highly expressed in the testis and bulbourethral glands and was mainly localized in the cytoplasm. These findings suggest that DAZAP2X2 played a significant role in spermatogenesis and provide a reference for further research on spermatogenesis-related genes and regulatory pathways.
Zhang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.