Transcriptomic profiling of day 3 human embryos of poor quality reveals molecular links to divergent developmental trajectories
Yan Li,
Wencheng Zhu,
Yuchen Qian,
Haiyan Yang,
Yonggen Wu,
Juan Meng,
Xuefeng Huang,
Zhen Liu,
Liangshan Mu
Affiliations
Yan Li
Reproductive Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, China
Wencheng Zhu
Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
Yuchen Qian
Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Haiyan Yang
Reproductive Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, China
Yonggen Wu
Reproductive Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, China
Juan Meng
Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Xuefeng Huang
Reproductive Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, China; Corresponding author
Zhen Liu
Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai 200031, China; Corresponding author
Liangshan Mu
Reproductive Medicine Center, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Poor-quality (PQ) embryos are commonly formed in assisted reproduction and often discarded, but emerging evidence suggests that some can develop into healthy children. Here, we performed single-embryo transcriptome profiling of day 3 human embryos of both good quality (GQ) and PQ. Our analyses revealed that day 3 PQ embryos can be categorized into two distinct subgroups: genuine PQ (gPQ) and morphological PQ (mPQ) embryos. This was further supported by additional transcriptomic data of GQ and PQ embryos donated by the same individuals. gPQ embryos showed greater impairments in both RNA decay and zygotic genome activation (ZGA) compared to mPQ embryos. Blastocysts that emerged from PQ embryos, more likely from mPQ embryos, demonstrated transcriptomic similarity to normal blastocysts. We also identified genes highly upregulated in day 3 gPQ embryos. These molecular insights may improve embryo selection and offer valuable clues for enhancing embryo quality in the future.
