Behura Susanta K, Kelleher Andrew M, Spencer Thomas E
Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
Institute for Data Science and Informatics, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
Mol Reprod Dev. 2020 Apr;87(4):482-492. doi: 10.1002/mrd.23338. Epub 2020 Mar 22.
We conducted an integrated analysis of gene expression and chromatin structure of mouse uterus to understand the regulation of uterine-expressed genes on gestation day 4 (GD4) during the peri-implantation period. The genes expressed in the uterus showed a significant association (p < .0001) with the presence of the nucleosome-free region (open chromatin) in the 5'-untranslated region of the genes. The majority of these upstream open chromatins harbored a common class of regulatory elements known as upstream open reading frames. We also compared the gene expression profiles between the uterus and brain which showed that specific gene pairs were expressed in a correlated manner, either positively or negatively. In addition, specific ligand/receptor genes showed coordinated patterns of expression between the uterus and brain on GD4, and the level of expression of these ligand/receptors altered significantly in the brain during late pregnancy (GD15) compared with the peri-implantation period (GD4). Collectively, these results suggest that regulation of the uterine genes during the peri-implantation period is likely to have a functional link with the maternal brain in pregnant mice.
我们对小鼠子宫的基因表达和染色质结构进行了综合分析，以了解着床前期妊娠第4天（GD4）子宫表达基因的调控情况。子宫中表达的基因与基因5'-非翻译区无核小体区域（开放染色质）的存在显著相关（p < 0.0001）。这些上游开放染色质中的大多数含有一类常见的调控元件，称为上游开放阅读框。我们还比较了子宫和大脑之间的基因表达谱，结果显示特定的基因对以正相关或负相关的方式协同表达。此外，特定的配体/受体基因在GD4时在子宫和大脑之间呈现出协同的表达模式，与着床前期（GD4）相比，这些配体/受体在妊娠后期（GD15）大脑中的表达水平发生了显著变化。总的来说，这些结果表明，着床前期子宫基因的调控可能与怀孕小鼠的母体大脑存在功能联系。
