GSE133200
Primary specification of blastocyst trophectoderm by scRNA-seq: new insights into embryo implantation
Mechanisms of implantation such as determination of the attachment pole, fetal-maternal communication, as well as underlying causes of implantation failure are largely unexplored. Here we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on peri-implantation embryos from both humans and mice to explore trophectoderm development and embryo–endometrium crosstalk. We found that the transcriptomes of polar and mural trophectoderm (TE) diverged after embryos hatched from the zona pellucida in both species, with polar TE being more mature than mural TE. The implantation poles show similarities in cell cycle activities, as well as in expression of genes critical for implantation and placentation. Embryos that either fail to attach in vitro or fail to implant in vivo, show abnormalities in pathways related to energy production, protein metabolism and 18S rRNA m6A methylation. These findings uncover the gene expression characteristics of humans and mice TE differentiation during the peri-implantation period and provide new insights into embryo implantation. Overall design: Transcriptome of trophectoderm cells from peri-implantation human and mice embryos were analyzed by single cell RNA-seq