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

**Authors:** Weiming Chen, Lei Yu, Ruidong Li, Hao Su, Zongyu Chen, Zhixu Zhang, Hui Zhang, Xiaolan Zhang, Yani Ding, Feifei Gou, Yu Lu, Ye Pan, Yong Zhang, Jun He, Chaojun Chen, Zongjian Tan, Zhenyu Jia, Jianguo Zhu

PMC · DOI: 10.1038/s41597-026-06808-0 · 2026-02-10

## 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.

## Key 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.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** male infertility (MESH:D007248), Asthenozoospermia (MESH:D053627)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Figures

1 figure with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC13000326/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC13000326