Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA; MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
Placenta. 2021 Sep 1;112:123-131. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2021.07.293. Epub 2021 Jul 25.
The development of fetal brain is intricately dependent upon placental functions. Recently, we showed that the placenta and fetal brain express genes in a coordinated manner in mice. But, how the brain-placental axis is regulated at the molecular level remains poorly understood. The microRNAs (miRNAs) play diverse roles in pregnancy including regulation of placenta function as well as brain development. Thus, we hypothesized that specific miRNAs are expressed in the placenta and fetal brain to coordinate gene regulation in the brain-placental axis.
To test this hypothesis, we performed deep sequencing of small RNAs in mouse placenta and fetal brain of both sexes.
The findings study show that miRNAs are potent regulators of gene expression in the placenta and fetal brain. Our data provides evidence that fetal sex influences the regulation of miRNAs between the placenta and fetal brain. Functional annotation of known target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs show that they are significantly enriched with specific signaling and transporter pathways.
Together, the results of this study suggest that placental miRNAs are potent regulators of fetal brain development in mice.
胎儿大脑的发育与胎盘功能密切相关。最近，我们发现老鼠的胎盘和胎儿大脑以协调的方式表达基因。但是，脑-胎盘轴在分子水平上是如何被调控的仍知之甚少。微小 RNA（miRNA）在妊娠中发挥多种作用，包括调节胎盘功能以及大脑发育。因此，我们假设特定的 miRNA 存在于胎盘和胎儿大脑中，以协调脑-胎盘轴中的基因调控。
为了验证这一假设，我们对雌雄鼠的胎盘和胎儿大脑进行了 miRNA 的深度测序。
本研究发现，miRNA 是胎盘和胎儿大脑中基因表达的有效调控因子。我们的数据提供了证据，表明胎儿性别影响胎盘和胎儿大脑之间 miRNA 的调控。差异表达 miRNA 的已知靶基因的功能注释表明，它们显著富集了特定的信号和转运体途径。
综上所述，本研究结果表明，胎盘 miRNA 是小鼠胎儿大脑发育的有力调控因子。
