Project description:Viromes of sour and sweet cherry trees in Hungarian germ line collections were surveyed using small RNA HTS as an unbiased method. RNA from leaf samples of different cultivars were purified and used to produce seven pools from which small RNA HTS libraries were prepared. The sequenced reads were analyzed using bioinformatic methods to revel the presence of viruses in the samples. Presence of the viruses were validated using RT-PCR.
Project description:We describe a unique phenotype, blastulation failure, in three primary infertile males with oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), resulting in multiple good-quality cleavage embryos that repeatedly failed to achieve blastulation or implantation. Single-cell analysis revealed that the arrested embryos had complex spermatozoa-derived chromosomal abnormalities, major embryonic genome activation failure, and overactivation of stress and apoptosis pathways at the transcriptional level. We further identified mutations in the meiosis-specific kinetochore factor MEIKIN gene in these males, causing OAT and chromosomal chaos in the spermatozoa. This study is the first to establish a connection between the genetic etiology of OAT and a novel embryo development arrest phenotype, indicating potenial risks of ICSI for OAT patients and providing a new explanation for recurrent implantation failure.