Comparative RNA-Seq analysis of differentially expressed genes in the sertoli cells of yak and cattle-yak.

Background: To study the problem of male sterility of cattle-yak and improve the yak crossbreeding, this study obtained the testicular Sertoli cells of yak and cattle-yak and compared the differences in transcriptome levels between the two bovine species. The testicular tissues of 3 healthy male cattle-yaks and 3 F generation male yaks were collected at the age of 24 months. The Sertoli cells were isolated after enzymatic digestion, differential adhesion and starvation treatment.