Elucidation of transcriptome and methylome variations on human oocytes affected by age through parallel single-cell sequencing

Advanced Maternal Aging (AMA) would cause reduced ovarian reserve, declined oocyte quality, developmental defects to embryos, and finally lead to infertility in women. Oocyte growth is key for pregnancy. In order to understand the differences in oocytes from young and aged women, single-cell parallel sequencing was employed to study the transcriptome and methylome landscapes of human mature metaphase II-arrested (MII) oocytes. In this study, altered gene expression and aberrant methylation sites in human mature MII oocytes affected by aging were identified. With the understanding of the molecular differences of human oocytes affected by aging, we can deduce the oocyte competence by observing the age-affected gene expression and methylation regions.