Markers of equine placental differentiation: insights from gene expression studies

Development and the subsequent function of the fetal membranes of the equine placenta require both complex and precise regulation of gene expression. Advancements in recent years in bioinformatic techniques have allowed more extensive analyses into gene expression than ever before. This review starts by combining publically available transcriptomic data sets obtained from a range of embryonic, placental and maternal tissues, with previous knowledge of equine placental development and physiology, to gain insights into key gene families relevant to placentation in the horse. Covering the whole of pregnancy, the review covers trophectoderm, yolk sac, chorionic girdle cells, allantoamnion and allantochorion. In particular, 182 predicted ‘early high impact’ genes were identified (>100 transcripts per million (TPM) and >100 fold-change) that distinguish between progenitor trophectoderm, chorionic girdle tissue and allantochorion. Furthermore, 71 genes were identified as enriched in placental tissues (placental TPM > 10, with minimal expression in 12 non-placental TPM < 1), including excellent candidates for functional studies such as IGF1, apolipoproteins, VGLL1, GCM1, CDX2 and FABP4. It is pertinent that future studies should focus on single-cell transcriptomic approaches in order to determine how these changes in gene expression relate to tissue composition and start to better define trophoblast subpopulations in the equine placenta. Future functional characterisation of these genes and pathways will also be key not only to understanding normal placental development and fetal health but also their potential role in pathologies of pregnancy.