Single-Cell Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of Human Oocyte Maturation Revealed High Heterogeneity in In Vitro–Matured Oocytes

• Published in: Molecular & cellular proteomics 2022-08, Vol.21 (8), p.100267-100267, Article 100267
• Main Authors: Guo, Yueshuai, Cai, Lingbo, Liu, Xiaofei, Ma, Long, Zhang, Hao, Wang, Bing, Qi, Yaling, Liu, Jiayin, Diao, Feiyang, Sha, Jiahao, Guo, Xuejiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: heterogeneity; human; oocyte maturation; proteomics; single-cell proteomics
• ISSN: 1535-9476; 1535-9484
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2022.100267

Oocyte maturation is pertinent to the success of in vitro maturation (IVM), which is used to overcome female infertility, and produced over 5000 live births worldwide. However, the quality of human IVM oocytes has not been investigated at single-cell proteome level. Here, we quantified 2094 proteins in human oocytes during in vitro and in vivo maturation (IVO) by single-cell proteomic analysis and identified 176 differential proteins between IVO and germinal vesicle oocytes and 45 between IVM and IVO oocytes including maternal effect proteins, with potential contribution to the clinically observed decreased fertilization, implantation, and birth rates using human IVM oocytes. IVM and IVO oocytes showed separate clusters in principal component analysis, with higher inter-cell variability among IVM oocytes, and have little correlation between mRNA and protein changes during maturation. The patients with the most aberrantly expressed proteins in IVM oocytes had the lowest level of estradiol per mature follicle on trigger day. Our data provide a rich resource to evaluate effect of IVM on oocyte quality and study mechanism of oocyte maturation. [Display omitted] •Single-cell proteomic profiling of human oocytes matured in vitro and in vivo.•Low correlation between protein and mRNA levels during human oocyte maturation.•In vitro matured (IVM) oocytes exhibit higher heterogeneity at the proteome level.•45 differentially expressed proteins between IVM and in vivo matured (IVO) oocytes. Here, we performed single-cell quantitative proteomic analysis of human germinal vesicle (GV), in vivo (IVO), and in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes and found low correlation between protein and mRNA levels. IVM oocytes showed higher heterogeneity in protein expression, which is related to the levels of estradiol per mature follicle on trigger day. This study provides a rich resource to characterize the mechanisms of oocyte maturation and to evaluate the quality heterogeneity of IVM oocytes at protein level.