{
  "abstract": "Identifying oocytes with high meiotic competence remains a major challenge for improving in vitro embryo production in South American camelids. Although Brilliant Cresyl Blue (BCB) staining has been used to distinguish alpaca oocytes with different meiotic and developmental competence, the biological and molecular feature associated with their meiotic competence remain poorly understood. This study characterized the transcriptomic profiles of immature alpaca (Vicugna pacos) oocytes classified as BCB-positive (BCB+) or BCB-negative (BCB-) using single-cell RNA sequencing. BCB+ oocytes exhibited a significantly larger ooplasm diameter, a higher proportion of condensed chromatin configurations, and higher in vitro maturation rates than BCB- oocytes. Transcriptomic analysis identified 2978 differentially expressed genes and revealed a clear separation between groups (PC1 = 64.8%). Differentially expressed genes with higher transcript abundance in BCB+ oocytes were enriched in DNA metabolism, cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, and proteasome pathways, whereas those with higher transcript abundance in BCB- oocytes were enriched in gene expression regulation, RNA metabolism, chromatin remodeling, and intracellular signaling. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis identified distinct hub genes in each group, including CDK1, CCNB2, MAD2L1, and AURKB in BCB+ oocytes and EP300, CREBBP, SMARCA4, and ARID1A in BCB- oocytes. These results provide the first single-cell transcriptomic characterization of BCB-classified alpaca oocytes and establish the molecular basis underlying the biological differences identified by BCB staining.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Laboratory of Reproductive Physiology, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima 15081, Peru.",
    "Faculty of Biological Sciences, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Arequipa 04001, Peru.",
    "Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Juana Quispe",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5966-9169"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zeze Bravo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Luz Toribio-Alomia",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-0427-0335"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Samuel Cusihuallpa-Cuchon",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-2646-9023"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Gloria Levano",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5400-6534"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan LaMarre",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3956-3041"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Martha Valdivia",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8301-5536"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dsv3pmmsmzy5t.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/ani16193081",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13663546",
  "id": "dsv3pmmsmzy5t",
  "issns": [
    "2076-2615"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883050",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2739|Reproductive Biology and Fertility"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214934123",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13663546?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13663546",
  "pmid": "42883050",
  "published": "2026-09-30",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dsv3pmmsmzy5t.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42883050",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883050"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2739|Reproductive Biology and Fertility",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals Molecular Differences Underlying Meiotic Competence of Brilliant Cresyl Blue (BCB) Selected Alpaca Oocytes.",
  "title_text": "Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals Molecular Differences Underlying Meiotic Competence of Brilliant Cresyl Blue (BCB) Selected Alpaca Oocytes.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dsv3pmmsmzy5t",
  "venue": "Animals : an open access journal from MDPI",
  "versions": []
}