Transcriptome based identification of mouse cumulus cell markers that predict the developmental competence of their enclosed antral oocytes

The cumulus cells (CCs) that envelope antral and ovulated oocytes have been regarded as putative source of non-invasive markers of the oocyte developmental competence and a number of studies have observed a correlation between CCs gene expression, embryo quality and final pregnancy outcome. With the aim of identifying marker transcripts, we isolated CCs from antral mouse oocytes of known developmental incompetence (NSN-CCs) or competence (SN-CCs) and compared their transcriptomes. Total RNA was isolated from cumulus cells derived from oocytes with a SN or NSN chromatin organization.