Davis Laundon, Bram G Sengers, James Thompson, Shelley E Harris, Olivia Beasley, Philip J Basford, Orestis L Katsamenis, Patricia Goggin, Emilie Derisoud, Diana Fanelli, Carlotta Bocci, Francesco Camillo, Justine Shotton, Georgina Constable-Dakeyne, Neil J Gostling, Pascale Chavatte-Palmer, Rohan M Lewis
Despite having a single evolutionary origin and conserved function, the mammalian placenta exhibits radical structural diversity. The evolutionary drivers and functional consequences of placental structural diversity are poorly understood. Humans and equids both display treelike placental villi, however these villi evolved independently and exhibit starkly different levels of invasiveness into maternal tissue (i.e. the number of maternal tissue layers between placental tissue and maternal blood). The villi in these species therefore serve as a compelling evolutionary case study to explore whether placentas have developed structural adaptations to respond to the challenge of reduced nutrient availability in less invasive placentas...
March 2024: Biology Letters