Spatial Single-Cell Sequencing of Meiosis I Arrested Oocytes Indicates Acquisition of Maternal Transcripts From the Soma

Authors

Kenneth A Trimmer
Peisen Zhao
Jacob Seemann
Shin-Yu Chen
Sudip Mondal
Adela Ben-Yakar
Swathi Arur

Publication Date

6-27-2023

Journal

Cell Reports

Abstract

Maternal RNAs are stored from minutes to decades in oocytes throughout meiosis I arrest in a transcriptionally quiescent state. Recent reports, however, propose a role for nascent transcription in arrested oocytes. Whether arrested oocytes launch nascent transcription in response to environmental or hormonal signals while maintaining the meiosis I arrest remains undetermined. We test this by integrating single-cell RNA sequencing, RNA velocity, and RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization on C. elegans meiosis I arrested oocytes. We identify transcripts that increase as the arrested meiosis I oocyte ages, but rule out extracellular signaling through ERK MAPK and nascent transcription as a mechanism for this increase. We report transcript acquisition from neighboring somatic cells as a mechanism of transcript increase during meiosis I arrest. These analyses provide a deeper view at single-cell resolution of the RNA landscape of a meiosis I arrested oocyte and as it prepares for oocyte maturation and fertilization.

Keywords

Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence, Oocytes, Meiosis, RNA

Comments

Supplementary Materials

PMID: 37227820