Ablation of placental REST deregulates fetal brain metabolism and impacts gene expression of the offspring brain at the postnatal and adult stages (snRNA-seq)

The Repressor Element-1 Silencing Transcription (REST) factor is a transcriptional repressor. The aim of this study is to characterize role of REST in placental influences on offspring brain. REST was ablated in mouse placenta by mating mouse carrying floxed (FL) alleles of REST with mouse that expresses Cre recombinase under the control of the promoter of placenta-specific gene Gcm1 (glial cells missing 1). To investigate placental influence on gene expression of adult offspring brain cells, single-nuclei RNA-seq was performed. Data analysis showed that ablation of placental REST significantly impacted specific pathways in choroid plexus and ependymal cells of the offspring brain. Overall design: snRNA-seq was performed with adult brain at week 8 (W8) from control and knockout mice.