Human trophoblasts are primarily distinguished from somatic cells by differences in the pattern rather than the degree of global CpG methylation

Biology Open

卷:7

Teena K. J. B. Gamage¹  William Schierding¹  Joanna L. James¹  Lawrence W. Chamley¹  Peter Tsai¹  Jackie L. Ludgate²  Robert J. Weeks²  Erin C. Macaulay² 

[1] Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand;

[2] Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand;

关键词: Placenta;    Trophoblast;    Somatic cells;    hESC;    Trophectoderm;    DNA methylation;   

DOI  :  10.1242/bio.034884

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The placenta is a fetal exchange organ connecting mother and baby that facilitates fetal growth in utero. DNA methylation is thought to impact placental development and function. Global DNA methylation studies using human placental lysates suggest that the placenta is uniquely hypomethylated compared to somatic tissue lysates, and this hypomethylation is thought to be important in conserving the unique placental gene expression patterns required for successful function. In the placental field, methylation has frequently been examined in tissue lysates, which contain mixed cell types that can confound results. To better understand how DNA methylation influences placentation, DNA from isolated first trimester trophoblast populations underwent reduced representation bisulfite sequencing and was compared to publicly available data of blastocyst-derived and somatic cell populations. First, this revealed that, unlike murine blastocysts, human trophectoderm and inner cell mass samples did not have significantly different levels of global methylation. Second, our work suggests that differences in global CpG methylation between trophoblasts and somatic cells are much smaller than previously reported. Rather, our findings suggest that different patterns of CpG methylation may be more important in epigenetically distinguishing the placenta from somatic cell populations, and these patterns of methylation may contribute to successful placental/trophoblast function.

【 授权许可】

Unknown