| Description |
Lower birth efficiency and safety concerns inherited in the embryos derived from round spermatid injection (ROSI) limit its clinical application, and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive and warrant further in-deep study. In this study, the embryonic days (E) 11.5 fetuses and corresponding placentas from ROSI, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and natural in vivo fertilized (control group) embryos were collected; their transcriptome and DNA methylation profiles were then analyzed and compared using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing methods, respectively. RNA-seq results displayed a similar gene expression trend in the fetuses and placentas between ROSI, ICSI, and control groups. Compared with the other two groups, seven and ten differentially expressed genes (DEG) in ROSI fetuses and placentas were found. However, there had no difference in DNA methylation levels of all CpG sites in the fetuses and placentas among the 3 groups. In both fetuses and placentas, the methylation level of imprinting control regions and imprinted genes expression was the same between the 3 groups. Although plenty of repetitive DNA sequences (RS) were abnormally activated in ROSI fetuses, the DNA methylation of RS showed no difference between the 3 groups. Interestingly, there was a correspondence relationship between abnormal hypermethylation in promoter regions and low expression levels of two genes, Fggy and Rec8, in the crown-rump length less than 6 mm ROSI fetus. Our study demonstrates that the transcriptome and DNA methylation profiles of the E11.5 fetus and placenta for ROSI were comparable with that of the other two groups. However, some abnormally expressed genes in the ROSI fetus and placenta warrant further investigation to elucidate their effect on ROSI embryos development. |
