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Ancient transposable elements transformed the uterine regulatory landscape and transcriptome during the evolution of mammalian pregnancy.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Lynch, VJ; Nnamani, MC; Kapusta, A; Brayer, K; Plaza, SL; Mazur, EC; Emera, D; Sheikh, SZ; Grützner, F; Bauersachs, S; Graf, A; Young, SL ...
Published in: Cell Rep
February 3, 2015

A major challenge in biology is determining how evolutionarily novel characters originate; however, mechanistic explanations for the origin of new characters are almost completely unknown. The evolution of pregnancy is an excellent system in which to study the origin of novelties because mammals preserve stages in the transition from egg laying to live birth. To determine the molecular bases of this transition, we characterized the pregnant/gravid uterine transcriptome from tetrapods to trace the evolutionary history of uterine gene expression. We show that thousands of genes evolved endometrial expression during the origins of mammalian pregnancy, including genes that mediate maternal-fetal communication and immunotolerance. Furthermore, thousands of cis-regulatory elements that mediate decidualization and cell-type identity in decidualized stromal cells are derived from ancient mammalian transposable elements (TEs). Our results indicate that one of the defining mammalian novelties evolved from DNA sequences derived from ancient mammalian TEs co-opted into hormone-responsive regulatory elements distributed throughout the genome.

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Published In

Cell Rep

DOI

EISSN

2211-1247

Publication Date

February 3, 2015

Volume

10

Issue

4

Start / End Page

551 / 561

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Uterus
  • Transcriptome
  • Pregnancy
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mammals
  • Female
  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • Biological Evolution
  • Animals
  • 31 Biological sciences
 

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Lynch, V. J., Nnamani, M. C., Kapusta, A., Brayer, K., Plaza, S. L., Mazur, E. C., … Wagner, G. P. (2015). Ancient transposable elements transformed the uterine regulatory landscape and transcriptome during the evolution of mammalian pregnancy. Cell Rep, 10(4), 551–561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.052
Lynch, Vincent J., Mauris C. Nnamani, Aurélie Kapusta, Kathryn Brayer, Silvia L. Plaza, Erik C. Mazur, Deena Emera, et al. “Ancient transposable elements transformed the uterine regulatory landscape and transcriptome during the evolution of mammalian pregnancy.Cell Rep 10, no. 4 (February 3, 2015): 551–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.052.
Lynch VJ, Nnamani MC, Kapusta A, Brayer K, Plaza SL, Mazur EC, et al. Ancient transposable elements transformed the uterine regulatory landscape and transcriptome during the evolution of mammalian pregnancy. Cell Rep. 2015 Feb 3;10(4):551–61.
Lynch, Vincent J., et al. “Ancient transposable elements transformed the uterine regulatory landscape and transcriptome during the evolution of mammalian pregnancy.Cell Rep, vol. 10, no. 4, Feb. 2015, pp. 551–61. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.052.
Lynch VJ, Nnamani MC, Kapusta A, Brayer K, Plaza SL, Mazur EC, Emera D, Sheikh SZ, Grützner F, Bauersachs S, Graf A, Young SL, Lieb JD, DeMayo FJ, Feschotte C, Wagner GP. Ancient transposable elements transformed the uterine regulatory landscape and transcriptome during the evolution of mammalian pregnancy. Cell Rep. 2015 Feb 3;10(4):551–561.
Journal cover image

Published In

Cell Rep

DOI

EISSN

2211-1247

Publication Date

February 3, 2015

Volume

10

Issue

4

Start / End Page

551 / 561

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Uterus
  • Transcriptome
  • Pregnancy
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mammals
  • Female
  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • Biological Evolution
  • Animals
  • 31 Biological sciences