Alteration of gene expression in cumulus cells reveals the role of ClpP in reproductive aging

We performed RNAseq analysis to determine the effect of ClpP-deletion on cumulus cells global gene expression profile in mature (3 month-old) and (6 month-old) mice. RNA sequencing revealed about 13,000 genes (FPKM > 0.1) expressed in cumulus cells. A total of 1025 genes were significantly differentially expressed (p<0.05) in 3-month ClpP-/- cumulus cells compared to WT (548 up-regulated and 477 down-regulated). At 6-month, a total of 555 genes were significantly differentially expressed in ClpP-/- cumulus cells compared to WT (464 up-regulated and 91 down-regulated). In addition, 1012 and 1034 genes were significantly differentially expressed in both 6 month ClpP-/- and WT cumulus cells compared to younger ClpP-/- cumulus cells, respectively. In this study, we assessed the effect of ClpP global deletion on cumulus cells gene expression. Our findings provide new insight into the role of CLPP in the cumulus cells, and may help understand the potential mechanism of infertility and reproductive aging associated with ClpP-deficiency. Cumulus oophorus complexes (COCs) were collected from 3- and 6-month old ClpP knockout (ClpP-/-) and wild type (WT) female mice (n=3 for each group) 48h after injection with 5IU pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG, Sigma). Cumulus cells were isolated and 100 cells from each mouse were pooled for RNA sequencing analysis.