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Mitochondrial DNA content is associated with ploidy status, maternal age, and oocyte maturation methods in mouse blastocysts

  • Embryo Biology
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Abstract

Purpose

It was reported that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was significantly increased in aneuploid human embryos compared to euploid embryos and was also associated with maternal age. In this study, we further established the mouse model of mtDNA quantitation in reproductive samples based on whole-genome amplification (WGA) and next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Methods

WGA followed by NGS-based mtDNA quantitation was first performed on 6 single- and 100-cell samples from a tumor-derived mouse cell line, which was exposed to ethidium bromide to reduce mtDNA content. The relative mtDNA content was normalized to nuclear DNA. This method was then applied to mouse reproductive samples, including 40 pairs of oocytes and polar bodies from 8 CD-1 female mice of advanced reproductive age and 171 blastocysts derived via in vitro maturation (IVM) or in vivo maturation (IVO) from young (6–9 weeks) and reproductively aged (13.5 months) female CF-1 mice.

Results

Exposure to ethidium bromide for 3 and 6 days decreased mtDNA levels in both the single- and 100-cell samples as expected. Results demonstrated that the first polar body contained an average of 0.9% of mtDNA relative to oocytes. Compared to the cells in blastocysts, oocytes contained about 180 times as much mtDNA per cell. mtDNA levels were compared among blastocysts from reproductively young and old female mice that had either been produced by IVM or IVO. Cells in blastocysts from younger mice contained significantly lower amounts of mtDNA compared to aged mice (P < 0.0001). Cells in blastocysts produced via IVO had higher mtDNA content than IVM-derived blastocysts (P = 0.0001). Cells in aneuploid blastocysts were found to have significantly higher (1.74-fold) levels of mtDNA compared to euploid blastocysts (P = 0.0006).

Conclusion

A reliable method for assessing mtDNA content in mouse gametes and embryos was established. Relative mtDNA levels were elevated in aneuploid embryos relative to euploid embryos, were higher in blastocysts from reproductively old mice relative to young mice, and were lower in embryos derived from IVM compared to IVO.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Foundation for Embryonic Competence, 140 Allen Road, Basking Ridge, NJ, 07920, USA

    Xin Tao, Jessica N. Landis, Agnieszka Lonczak, Richard T. Scott III & Yiping Zhan

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Seton Hall University, 400 South Orange Ave, South Orange, NJ, 07079, USA

    Xin Tao & Tinchun Chu

  3. Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, 10290 Ridge Gate Circle, Lone Tree, CO, 80124, USA

    Rebecca L. Krisher & Elena Silva

  4. Northwestern University, 303 E Superior Street, Lurie 7-117, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Francesca E. Duncan

  5. Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, 140 Allen Road, Basking Ridge, NJ, 07920, USA

    Richard T. Scott Jr

  6. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Nathan R. Treff

Authors
  1. Xin Tao
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  2. Jessica N. Landis
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  4. Francesca E. Duncan
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  9. Tinchun Chu
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  10. Richard T. Scott Jr
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xin Tao.

Ethics declarations

All animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Northwestern University) or Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine Ethics in Research Committee and were carried out in accordance with National Institutes of Health Guidelines and the Society for the Study of Reproduction’s specific guidelines and standards.

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Tao, X., Landis, J.N., Krisher, R.L. et al. Mitochondrial DNA content is associated with ploidy status, maternal age, and oocyte maturation methods in mouse blastocysts. J Assist Reprod Genet 34, 1587–1594 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-1070-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-1070-8

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