Mitofusin 2 is essential for oocyte and follicle development, and to maintain ovarian follicular reserve during reproductive aging [SFO]

We performed RNAseq analysis to determine the effect of MFN2 deletion on oocyte global gene expression profile. RNAseq revealed a total of 1041 genes were significantly differentially expressed (p<0.05) in Mfn2-/- seceondary follicle enclosed oocytes (SFOs) compared to WT, with 510 up-regulated and 531 down-regulated genes. GO cluster analysis indicated significant over-representation of elements involved in regulation of cell death and survival, cellular development and cellular growth. Pathway analysis of top10 upregulated and downregulated annotated genes are listed. Our findings provide new insight into the role of MFN2 in the oocytes, and may help understand the potential mechanism of subfertility and reproductive aging associated with MFN2-deficiency. Overall design: Secondary follicle-enclosed oocytes were collected from 8-week-old Mfn2-/- and WT mice (n=3 for each group) and 5 oocytes from each group were pooled for RNA sequencing analysis.