Embryo-maternal dialogue during pregnancy establishment and implantation in the pig

During C. elegans development, the temporal pattern of many cell lineages is specified by graded activity of the heterochronic gene Lin-14. Here we demonstrate that a temporal gradient in Lin-14 protein is generated posttranscriptionally by multiple elements in the lin-14 3'UTR that are regulated by the heterochronic gene Lin-4. The lin-14 3'UTR is both necessary and sufficient to confer lin-4-mediated posttranscriptional temporal regulation. The function of the lin-14 3'UTR is conserved between C. elegans and C. briggsae. Among the conserved sequences are seven elements that are each complementary to the lin-4 RNAs. A reporter gene bearing three of these elements shows partial temporal gradient activity. These data suggest a molecular mechanism for Lin-14p temporal gradient formation: the lin-4 RNAs base pair to sites in the lin-14 3'UTR to form multiple RNA duplexes that down-regulate lin-14 translation.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously expressed small RNAs that regulate expression of mRNAs at the post-transcriptional level. The consequence of miRNA regulation is hypothesized to reduce the expression variation of target genes. However, it is possible that mutations in miRNAs and target sites cause rewiring of the miRNA regulatory networks resulting in increased variation in gene expression. By examining variation in gene expression patterns in human populations and between human and other primate species, we find that miRNAs have stabilized expression of a small number of target genes during primate evolution. Compared with genes not regulated by miRNAs, however, genes regulated by miRNAs overall have higher expression variation at the population level, and they display greater variation in expression among human ethnic groups or between human and other primate species. By integrating expression data with genotypes determined in the HapMap 3 and the 1000 Genomes Projects, we found that expression variation in miRNAs, genetic variants in miRNA loci, and mutations in miRNA target sites are important sources of elevated expression variation of miRNA target genes. A reasonable case can be made that natural selection is driving this pattern of variation.

Uterine receptivity to implantation varies among species, and involves changes in expression of genes that are coordinate with attachment of trophectoderm to uterine lumenal and superficial glandular epithelia, modification of phenotype of uterine stromal cells, silencing of receptors for progesterone and estrogen, suppression of genes for immune recognition, alterations in membrane permeability to enhance conceptus-maternal exchange of factors, angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, increased vascularity of the endometrium, activation of genes for transport of nutrients into the uterine lumen, and enhanced signaling for pregnancy recognition. Differential expression of genes by uterine epithelial and stromal cells in response to progesterone, glucocorticoids, prostaglandins and interferons may influence uterine receptivity to implantation in mammals. Uterine receptivity to implantation is progesterone-dependent; however, implantation is preceded by loss of expression of receptors for progesterone (PGR) so that progesterone most likely acts via PGR-positive stromal cells throughout pregnancy. Endogenous retroviruses expressed by the uterus and/or blastocyst also affect implantation and placentation in various species. Understanding the roles of the variety of hormones, growth factors and endogenous retroviral proteins in uterine receptivity for implantation is essential to enhancing reproductive health and fertility in humans and domestic animals.