Testosterone is a final product of androgenic hormone biosynthesis, and Leydig cells are known to be the primary source of androgens. In the mammalian testis, two distinct populations of Leydig cells, the fetal and the adult Leydig cells, develop sequentially, and these two cell types differ both morphologically and functionally. It is well known that the adult Leydig cells maintain male reproductive function by producing testosterone. However, it has been controversial whether fetal Leydig cells can produce testosterone, and the synthetic pathway of testosterone in the fetal testis is not fully understood. In the present study, we generated transgenic mice in which enhanced green fluorescence protein was expressed under the control of a fetal Leydig cell-specific enhancer of the Ad4BP/SF-1 (Nr5a1) gene. The transgene construct was prepared by mutating the LIM homeodomain transcription factor (LHX9)-binding sequence in the promoter, which abolished promoter activity in the undifferentiated testicular cells. These transgenic mice were used to collect highly pure fetal Leydig cells. Gene expression and steroidogenic enzyme activities in the fetal Leydig cells as well as in the fetal Sertoli cells and adult Leydig cells were analyzed. Our results revealed that the fetal Leydig cells synthesize only androstenedione because they lack expression of Hsd17b3, and fetal Sertoli cells convert androstenedione to testosterone, whereas adult Leydig cells synthesize testosterone by themselves. The current study demonstrated that both Leydig and Sertoli cells are required for testosterone synthesis in the mouse fetal testis.

In the mouse zygote, Stella/PGC7 protects 5-methylcytosine (5mC) of the maternal genome from Tet3-mediated oxidation to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). Although ablation of Stella causes early embryonic lethality, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. In this study, we report impaired DNA replication and abnormal chromosome segregation (ACS) of maternal chromosomes in Stella-null embryos. In addition, phosphorylation of H2AX (cH2AX), which has been reported to inhibit DNA replication, accumulates in the maternal chromatin of Stella-null zygotes in a Tet3-dependent manner. Cell culture assays verified that ectopic appearance of 5hmC induces abnormal accumulation of cH2AX and subsequent growth retardation. Thus, Stella protects maternal chromosomes from aberrant epigenetic modifications to ensure early embryogenesis.

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