TOOLS AND RESOURCES An atlas of cell types in the mouse epididymis and vas deferens Vera D Rinaldi1†, Elisa Donnard2†, Kyle Gellatly2, Morten Rasmussen1‡, Alper Kucukural2, Onur Yukselen2, Manuel Garber2,3, Upasna Sharma4, Oliver J Rando1* 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States; 2Department of Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States; 3Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States; 4Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States Abstract Following testicular spermatogenesis, mammalian sperm continue to mature in a long epithelial tube known as the epididymis, which plays key roles in remodeling sperm protein, lipid, and RNA composition. To understand the roles for the epididymis in reproductive biology, we generated a single-cell atlas of the murine epididymis and vas deferens. We recovered key epithelial cell types including principal cells, clear cells, and basal cells, along with associated *For correspondence: support cells that include fibroblasts, smooth muscle, macrophages and other immune cells.
[email protected] Moreover, our data illuminate extensive regional specialization of principal cell populations across †These authors contributed the length of the epididymis. In addition to region-specific specialization of principal cells, we find equally to this work evidence for functionally specialized subpopulations of stromal cells, and, most notably, two ‡ distinct populations of clear cells. Our dataset extends on existing knowledge of epididymal Present address: Department of Virus and Microbiological biology, and provides a wealth of information on potential regulatory and signaling factors that Special Diagnostics, Statens bear future investigation.