Matched whole-genome sequencing of blood (10×) and five single sperm cells (1×) per individual in 53 men

TL;DR

This study provides a genomic dataset from 53 men, including blood and sperm samples, to better understand male infertility and improve reproductive genomics research.

Contribution

The study introduces a matched WGS dataset of blood and single sperm cells from men with and without asthenozoospermia, enabling research into male infertility genomics.

Findings

The dataset includes 263 single-sperm libraries from 53 men, with detailed metadata on sperm motility and vitality.

Sequencing metrics met quality thresholds, with mean depths of ~10× for blood and ~1.7× for single sperm.

The resource supports translational research and algorithm development for gamete-genome analysis.

Abstract

Asthenozoospermia, characterized by reduced sperm motility, is a major contributor to male infertility and motivates improved resources for studying spermatogenesis at the genomic level. Here, we present a paired whole-genome sequencing (WGS) dataset from 53 Han Chinese men, comprising matched blood WGS per participant (target ~10×) and 3–5 low-coverage single-sperm WGS libraries per participant (target ~1×). The dataset includes 263 single-sperm libraries (79 from 16 asthenozoospermic participants and 184 from 37 normozoospermic participants) and is accompanied by rich participant-level metadata, including baseline characteristics, endocrine measurements, and semen parameters such as sperm motility and vitality. Raw reads underwent standardized quality-control filtering, and key sequencing metrics (Q20 and GC content) met commonly used thresholds; the achieved mean depth was approximately 10× for blood and ~1.7× for single sperm. By integrating sperm motility/vitality phenotypes with individual-matched genomic information, this resource provides a foundation for male reproductive genomics and for developing and benchmarking algorithms for gamete-genome dissection, and may support future translational research on male infertility evaluation.

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