Comparative analysis of mouse and human placentae across gestation reveals species-specific regulators of placental development

• DOI: 10.1242/dev.156273
• Publication Date: 2018-01-23T01:11:05Z
• Authors: Francesca Soncin; Marwa Khater; Cuong To; Donald Pizzo; Omar Farah; Anna Wakeland; Kanaga Arul Nambi...; Katharine K. Nelson; Ching-Wen Chang; Matteo Moretto-Zita; David R. Natale; Louise C. Laurent; Mana M. Parast
• Keywords: Placentation

ABSTRACT An increasing body of evidence points to significant spatio-temporal differences in early placental development between mouse and human, but a detailed comparison placentae these two species is missing. We set out compare from both across gestation, with focus on trophoblast progenitor markers. found that CDX2 ELF5, not EOMES, are expressed post-implantation subpopulations species. Genome-wide expression profiling human revealed clusters genes distinct co-expression patterns gestation. Overall, there was closer fit observed the when inter-species restricted through gestational week 16 (thus, excluding full-term samples), suggesting developmental timeline runs parallel first half development. In addition, we identified VGLL1 as human-specific marker proliferative cytotrophoblast, where it co-expressed transcription factor TEAD4. As TEAD4 involved trophectoderm specification mouse, posit regulatory role for events during