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The paper
J.R. Gruhn et al., “Chromosome errors in human eggs shape natural fertility over reproductive life span,” Science, 365:1466–69, 2019.
Female of most mammalian species are fertile throughout their adult life. But humans are different, says University of Copenhagen molecular geneticist Eva Hoffmann. A woman’s fertility follows a curve, increasing from puberty, peaking in her 20s, and falling rapidly starting in her mid-30s.
Researchers attribute this decline partly to a rise in egg aneuploidy, or incorrect chromosome number, which can lead to pregnancy failure. Hoffmann and colleagues wanted to know more about how aneuploidy occurs in human eggs, and whether it’s connected to female fertility from a young age.
The team collected more than 3,000 eggs from women between 9 and 43 years old through a collaboration with IVF clinics and Danish hospitals that preserve ovarian tissue from cancer patients about to undergo chemotherapy. The researchers ...
