Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 12 pp 3919—3938
Mitofusin 2 plays a role in oocyte and follicle development, and is required to maintain ovarian follicular reserve during reproductive aging
- 1 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
- 2 Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- 3 Current address: AgCenter, School of Animal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- 4 Current address: Foundation for Embryonic Competence, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920, USA
Received: April 18, 2019 Accepted: June 8, 2019 Published: June 16, 2019
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102024How to Cite
Copyright: Zhang et al. This is an open‐access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Mitochondria change their shape through fusion and fission in order to adapt to their metabolic milieu. Mitofusin-2 (MFN2) is a key regulatory protein in this process, mediating mitochondrial fusion and interaction with endoplasmic reticulum. Targeted deletion of Mfn2 in oocytes resulted in mitochondrial dysfunction and female subfertility associated with impaired oocyte maturation and follicle development. Oocytes lacking MFN2 showed shortened telomeres and increased apoptosis, resulting in compromised oocyte quality and accelerated follicular depletion, consistent with a reproductive aging phenotype.