Abstract

The placenta plays a crucial role in mammalian fetal growth. The most important cell type in the placenta is the trophoblast cell. Many genes have been reported to play important functions in the differentiation of early placental trophoblast cells. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) is a systematic biological method for describing the correlation patterns among genes across microarray samples. We used WGCNA to screen placental trophoblast development-related genes, and through experimental confirmation, we showed that, among these genes, ELAC2 may play an important regulatory role in the early development of mammalian placental formation. ELAC2 regulates early placental trophoblast differentiation by affecting cell migration and cell proliferation. In addition, ELAC2 may be involved in regulating cell migration processes in a manner that affects epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT).Keywords:placenta;WGCNA;ELAC2;EMT