Blimp1/Prdm1 governs terminal differentiation of endovascular trophoblast giant cells and defines multipotent progenitors in the developing placenta

Expression profiling of Prdm1 mutant E9.5 placenta was performed using Illumina whole genome V2 arrays. The hypothesis tested in the present study was that Blimp1 regulates the transcription of key genes involved in trophoblast differentiation. We demonstrate that the invading SpA-TGCs display robust Blimp1 expression and Blimp1 functional loss selectively disrupts specification of this discrete TGC sub-type. Transcriptional profiling experiments identified additional SpA-TGC lineage restricted marker genes that potentially regulate placental morphogenesis. Prdm1BEH/+ (Vincent et al., 2005) animals were intercrossed to generate null placental tissue. Total RNA obtained from 10 Prdm1+/+ and 11 Prdm1-/- E9.5 placenta samples was hybridized to Illumina WG6_V2 beadchips.