Transcriptome Sequencing Reveals Significant RNA Variation in Human Sperm Samples

As spermatocytes mature, they shed substantial cellular material, resulting in sperm cells that primarily contain DNA. Sperm cells variation in RNA has not been addressed in the literature. We analyzed semen samples from 83 males, with normal sperm motility and asthenospermia, a condition characterized by reduced sperm motility. Using the conventional quality criterion for RNA sequencing, 15 samples (set 1) met these standards, 22 samples (set 2) approached these standards, remaining samples failed library construction. We hypothesize the samples that did not pass the conventional RNA quality standards represent the mature and functional sperm with reduced RNA, these samples have been ignored in previous studies. We have made the RNA sequencing data publicly available in the GSA-Human database, under accession numbers HRA006250 and HRA006906, respectively. These datasets will provide insights into the role of RNA in sperm generation and facilitate the development of (1) new RNA quality standards for sequencing the sperm transcriptome and (2) identification of residual RNA in mature sperm cells and genetic role in influencing offspring phenotypes.