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Paternal knockout of Slc38a4 /SNAT4 causes placental hypoplasia associated with intrauterine growth restriction in mice
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116:21047-21053
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
-
Abstract
- The placenta is critical in mammalian embryonic development because the embryo’s supply of nutrients, including amino acids, depends solely on mother-to-embryo transport through it. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this amino acid supply are poorly understood. In this study, we focused on system A amino acid transporters Slc38a1 /SNAT1, Slc38a2 /SNAT2, and Slc38a4 /SNAT4, which carry neutral, short-side-chain amino acids, to determine their involvement in placental or embryonic development. A triple-target CRISPR screen identified Slc38a4 /SNAT4 as the critical amino acid transporter for placental development in mice. We established mouse lines from the CRISPR founders with large deletions in Slc38a4 and found that, consistent with the imprinted paternal expression of Slc38a4 /SNAT4 in the placenta, paternal knockout (KO) but not maternal KO of Slc38a4 /SNAT4 caused placental hypoplasia associated with reduced fetal weight. Immunostaining revealed that SNAT4 was widely expressed in differentiating cytotrophoblasts and maturing trophoblasts at the maternal–fetal interface. A blood metabolome analysis revealed that amino acid concentrations were globally reduced in Slc38a4 /SNAT4 mutant embryos. These results indicated that SNAT4-mediated amino acid transport in mice plays a major role in placental and embryonic development. Given that expression of Slc38a4 in the placenta is conserved in other species, our Slc38a4 /SNAT4 mutant mice could be a promising model for the analysis of placental defects leading to intrauterine growth restriction in mammals.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Amino Acid Transport System A
Amino Acid Transport Systems
Placenta
Mutant
Intrauterine growth restriction
Biology
Mice
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Pregnancy
medicine
Animals
Amino acid transporter
Amino Acids
chemistry.chemical_classification
Fetal Growth Retardation
Multidisciplinary
Uterus
Embryogenesis
Embryo
Biological Sciences
medicine.disease
Placentation
Trophoblasts
Cell biology
Amino acid
030104 developmental biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
chemistry
030220 oncology & carcinogenesis
embryonic structures
Female
Immunostaining
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10916490 and 00278424
- Volume :
- 116
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....550b2f1edb7fdf9dd116409bf1146761