2. Academic Validation
  3. The mechanisms of MTOCs maturation in human and mouse oocytes

The mechanisms of MTOCs maturation in human and mouse oocytes

  • Sci Bull (Beijing). 2025 Aug 11:S2095-9273(25)00813-8. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.08.012.
Hao Gu 1,  Ling Wu 2,  Mingru Yin 2,  Xingzhu Du 1,  Jing Fu 3,  Fangzhou Xu 1,  Zhiqi Ye 1,  Xuelin Zhang 1,  Huixia Jing 1,  Yuxi Luo 1,  Wenzhi Li 2,  Xiaoxi Sun 3,  Lin He 4,  Yanping Kuang 2,  Qifeng Lyu 5,  Tianyu Wu 6,  Lei Wang 7,  Qing Sang 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
  • 2 Department of Assisted Reproduction, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China.
  • 3 Shanghai Ji Ai Genetics and IVF Institute, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200011, China.
  • 4 Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China.
  • 5 Department of Assisted Reproduction, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China. Electronic address: lyuqifeng@126.com.
  • 6 Institute of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: ty_wu@fudan.edu.cn.
  • 7 Institute of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Shanghai Academy of Natural Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: wangleiwanglei@fudan.edu.cn.
  • 8 Institute of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: sangqing@fudan.edu.cn.
PMID: 40903356 DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.08.012
Abstract

The microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) of human and mouse oocytes are essential for meiotic spindle assembly and for ensuring precise chromosome segregations. Previous studies mainly focus on investigating MTOCs changes in metaphase I oocyte. However, the detailed dynamic changes and underlying mechanisms of the MTOCs in germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes-a stage that early events of MTOC maturation happened- remain unclear. Here we explored the dynamics of MTOCs maturation in human and mouse GV oocytes and found that MTOCs maturation is a largely conserved process, consisting of two tightly coupled processes referred to as MTOCs activation and migration. We found that Cytoskeleton associated protein 5 (CKAP5) and transforming acidic coiled-coil containing protein 3 (TACC3) play key roles in MTOCs maturation in oocytes. The activation of the MTOCs is a prerequisite for migration initiation, and the migration of the MTOCs is facilitated by dynein/dynactin in oocytes. The disruption of MTOC maturation resulted in spindle assembly failure. Importantly, impaired MTOCs maturation is associated with the physiological aging of oocytes. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of MTOCs dynamics in human and mouse oocytes.

Keywords

Meiotic spindle assembly; Oocyte MTOCs; Oocyte meiosis.

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