title: Deep RNA sequencing analysis of syncytialization-related genes during BeWo cell fusion.
abstract: The syncytiotrophoblast (STB) plays a key role in maintaining the function of the placenta during human pregnancy. However, the molecular network that orchestrates STB development remains elusive. The aim of this study was to obtain broad and deep insight into human STB formation via transcriptomics. We adopted RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to investigate genes and isoforms involved in forskolin (FSK)-induced fusion of BeWo cells. BeWo cells were treated with 50 μM FSK or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a vehicle control for 24 and 48 h, and the mRNAs at 0, 24 and 48 h were sequenced. We detected 28,633 expressed genes and identified 1902 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) after FSK treatment for 24 and 48 h. Among the 1902 DEGs, 461 were increased and 395 were decreased at 24 h, whereas 879 were upregulated and 763 were downregulated at 48 h. When the 856 DEGs identified at 24 h were traced individually at 48 h, they separated into 6 dynamic patterns via a K-means algorithm, and most were enriched in down-even and up-even patterns. Moreover, the gene ontology (GO) terms syncytium formation, cell junction assembly, cell fate commitment, calcium ion transport, regulation of epithelial cell differentiation and cell morphogenesis involved in differentiation were clustered, and the MAPK pathway was most significantly regulated. Analyses of alternative splicing isoforms detected 123,200 isoforms, of which 1376 were differentially expressed. The present deep analysis of the RNA-Seq data of BeWo cell fusion provides important clues for understanding the mechanisms underlying human STB formation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ru
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Peking University Third Hospital Center of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bao-Fa
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hai-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang