biostudies-literatureWest RCNINDS NIH HHS22635-22644https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC6842583biostudies-literatureUnknown116(45)Single-cell RNA sequencing of cells from cultured human blastocysts has enabled us to define the transcriptomic landscape of placental trophoblast (TB) that surrounds the epiblast and associated embryonic tissues during the enigmatic day 8 (D8) to D12 peri-implantation period before the villous placenta forms. We analyzed the transcriptomes of 3 early placental cell types, cytoTB (CTB), syncytioTB (STB), and migratoryTB (MTB), picked manually from cultured embryos dissociated with trypsin and were able to follow sublineages that emerged from proliferating CTB at the periphery of the conceptus. A unique form of CTB with some features of STB was detectable at D8, while mature STB was at its zenith at D10. A form of MTB with a mixed MTB/CTB phenotype arose around D10. By D12, STB generation wProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaDynamics of trophoblast differentiation in peri-implantation-stage human embryos.PMC6842583P30 NS048154R01 NS086839Roberts RMJiang ZRajput SKWest RCLogsdon DMKrisher RLKile RAMing HSchoolcraft WBSun JYuan YfalseDynamics of trophoblast differentiation in peri-implantation-stage human embryos.Single-cell RNA sequencing of cells from cultured human blastocysts has enabled us to define the transcriptomic landscape of placental trophoblast (TB) that surrounds the epiblast and associated embryonic tissues during the enigmatic day 8 (D8) to D12 peri-implantation period before the villous placenta forms. We analyzed the transcriptomes of 3 early placental cell types, cytoTB (CTB), syncytioTB (STB), and migratoryTB (MTB), picked manually from cultured embryos dissociated with trypsin and were able to follow sublineages that emerged from proliferating CTB at the periphery of the conceptus. A unique form of CTB with some features of STB was detectable at D8, while mature STB was at its zenith at D10. A form of MTB with a mixed MTB/CTB phenotype arose around D10. By D12, STB generation w2019-01-01T00:00:00Z2019 Nov2025-06-01T03:29:43.412Z2025-06-01T03:29:43.412ZS-EPMC68425833163619310.1073/pnas.1911362116