Sex differences in early and term placenta are conserved in adult tissues

Biology of Sex Differences

Research

Lauren Perley¹  Jane O’Bryan¹  Harvey J. Kliman¹  Michelle Silasi²  Kimberly C. Olney³  Lucia Ramirez³  Tanya N. Phung³  Seema B. Plaisier³  Melissa A. Wilson⁴ 

[1] Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine, 06520, New Haven, CT, USA;Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, 63141, St. Louis, MO, USA;School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, 85282, Tempe, AZ, USA;Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, 85282, Tempe, AZ, USA;School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, 85282, Tempe, AZ, USA;Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, 85282, Tempe, AZ, USA;The Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University, 85282, Tempe, AZ, USA;

关键词: Sex differences;    Gene expression;    RNAseq;    Pregnancy;    Life course;    Development;    Alignment;    Gametolog;    Sex chromosome;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13293-022-00470-y

 received in 2022-08-08, accepted in 2022-09-19,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPregnancy complications vary based on the fetus’s genetic sex, which may, in part, be modulated by the placenta. Furthermore, developmental differences early in life can have lifelong health outcomes. Yet, sex differences in gene expression within the placenta at different timepoints throughout pregnancy and comparisons to adult tissues remains poorly characterized.MethodsHere, we collect and characterize sex differences in gene expression in term placentas (≥ 36.6 weeks; 23 male XY and 27 female XX). These are compared with sex differences in previously collected first trimester placenta samples and 42 non-reproductive adult tissues from GTEx.ResultsWe identify 268 and 53 sex-differentially expressed genes in the uncomplicated late first trimester and term placentas, respectively. Of the 53 sex-differentially expressed genes observed in the term placentas, 31 are also sex-differentially expressed genes in the late first trimester placentas. Furthermore, sex differences in gene expression in term placentas are highly correlated with sex differences in the late first trimester placentas. We found that sex-differential gene expression in the term placenta is significantly correlated with sex differences in gene expression in 42 non-reproductive adult tissues (correlation coefficient ranged from 0.892 to 0.957), with the highest correlation in brain tissues. Sex differences in gene expression were largely driven by gene expression on the sex chromosomes. We further show that some gametologous genes (genes with functional copies on X and Y) will have different inferred sex differences if the X-linked gene expression in females is compared to the sum of the X-linked and Y-linked gene expression in males.ConclusionsWe find that sex differences in gene expression are conserved in late first trimester and term placentas and that these sex differences are conserved in adult tissues. We demonstrate that there are sex differences associated with innate immune response in late first trimester placentas but there is no significant difference in gene expression of innate immune genes between sexes in healthy full-term placentas. Finally, sex differences are predominantly driven by expression from sex-linked genes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

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