Trophoblast giant cell underrepresentation (CGH)

We characterized regions of underrepresentation that are specific to mouse polyploid trophoblast giant cells. We performed array Comparative Genomics Hybridization (aCGH) to examine copy number variation (CNV) in mouse polyploid trophoblast giant cells (TGCs). We performed the following experiments in duplicates to examine CNV during various stages of in vivo and in vitro TGC development: e9.5 TGCs vs. embryonic controls, e11.5 TGCs vs. embryonic controls, e13.5 TGCs vs. embryonic controls, e16.5 TGCs vs. embryonic controls, as well as TGCs cultured 3, 5 and 7 days vs. 2N trophoblast stem cells. We also performed the following controls to show that underrepresentation is only found in polypoid trophoblast giant cells and not in either 2N placental cell types nor in other types of polyploid cells: 2N placenta disk vs. embryonic controls, 2N trophoblast stem cells vs. embryonic stem cells, and polyploid Megakaryocytes vs. embryonic controls. When possible, we performed arrays with the test and control samples of opposite sex (F-female, M-male), as an internal control for the array.