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Placental effects on maternal brain revealed by disrupted placental gene expression in mouse hybrids

ABSTRACT: The mammalian placenta is both the physical interface between mother and fetus, and the source of endocrine signals that target the maternal hypothalamus, priming females for parturition, lactation and motherhood. Despite the importance of this connection, the effects of altered placental signaling on the maternal brain are understudied. Here, we show that placental dysfunction alters gene expression in the maternal brain, with the potential to affect maternal behavior. Using a cross between the house mouse and the Algerian mouse in which hybrid placental development is abnormal, we sequenced late gestation placental and maternal medial preoptic area transcriptomes and quantified differential expression and placenta-maternal brain co-expression between normal and hybrid pregnancies. The expression of Fmn1, Drd3, Caln1 and Ctsr was significantly altered in the brains of females exposed to hybrid placentas. Most strikingly, expression patterns of placenta-specific gene families and Drd3 in the brains of house mouse females carrying hybrid litters matched those of female Algerian mice, the paternal species in the cross. Our results indicate that the paternally-derived placental genome can influence the expression of maternal-fetal communication genes, including placental hormones, suggesting an effect of the offspring's father on the mother’s brain.

ORGANISM(S): Mus spretus Mus musculus domesticus x Mus spretus Mus musculus domesticus

PROVIDER: GSE126469 | GEO | 2019/12/31

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Hybrid phenotypes that contribute to postzygotic reproductive isolation often exhibit pronounced asymmetry, both between reciprocal crosses and between the sexes in accordance with Haldane's rule. Inviability in mammalian hybrids is associated with parent-of-origin placental growth abnormalities for which misregulation of imprinted genes is the leading candidate mechanism. However, direct evidence for the involvement of imprinted genes in hybrid growth dysplasia is limited. We used transcriptome and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing to conduct the first genome-scale assessment of the contribution of imprinted genes to parent-of-origin placental growth dysplasia in the cross between the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) and the Algerian mouse (Mus spretus). Imprinted genes with transgressive expression and methylation were concentrated in the Kcnq1 cluster, which contains causal genes for prenatal growth abnormalities in mice and humans. Hypermethylation of the cluster’s imprinting control region, and consequent misexpression of the genes Phlda2 and Ascl2, is a strong candidate mechanism for transgressive placental undergrowth. Transgressive placental and gene regulatory phenotypes, including expression and methylation in the Kcnq1 cluster, were more extreme in hybrid males. While consistent with Haldane’s rule, male-biased defects are unexpected in rodent placenta because the X-chromosome is effectively hemizygous in both sexes. In search of an explanation we found evidence of leaky imprinted (paternal) X-chromosome inactivation in hybrid female placenta, an epigenetic disturbance that may buffer females from the effects of X-linked incompatibilities to which males are fully exposed. Sex differences in chromatin structure on the X and sex-biased maternal effects are non-mutually exclusive alternative explanations for adherence to Haldane’s rule in hybrid placenta. The results of this study contribute to understanding the genetic basis of hybrid inviability in mammals, and the role of imprinted genes in speciation.

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Placental effects on maternal brain revealed by disrupted placental gene expression in mouse hybrids

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