Biology subjects

Liorzou, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Liorzou, E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Evolution of the genetic architecture of uterine disorders

Uterine disorders and menstrual abnormalities are prevalent reproductive conditions with significant clinical consequences. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of variants contributing to different uterine disorders, while epidemiological evidence suggests that these disorders co-occur more frequently than expected, implying shared genetic mechanisms. However, the specific genetic variants and biological pathways underlying this shared architecture remain poorly characterized. Here, we conducted a uterus-centric, multi-trait genome-wide association analysis across ten uterine disorders in a European cohort to elucidate this shared genetic architecture. Further, we embedded this architecture in a functional and population genomics framework to investigate its plausible biological mechanisms and its evolutionary history in humans. We confirm strong positive genetic correlations between major uterine disorders and identify 31 independent susceptibility loci jointly affecting the genetic risk of multiple uterine pathologies, substantiating an intertwined biological basis. Populational analyses demonstrated that several of these susceptibility variants exhibit pronounced allele frequency differentiation across global populations suggestive of recent polygenic selection, including variants with well-supported regulatory functions at the ESR1-CCDC170, WNT4, SFR1, FOXO1, ITPR1, DMRT1 and CDKN2B loci. Notably, we show that most derived alleles acquired during recent human evolution increase risk across multiple uterine disorders and may evolve under antagonistic selection. These findings provide functional annotation and population-level prioritization of genetic variants influencing multiple uterine disorders. They also highlight how past evolutionary histories may contribute to population differences in uterine disease prevalence and pathogenesis.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2025

Coordinated shifts in gene expression and regulation during mole-rat evolution

Changes in gene expression and regulation are central to mammalian phenotypic evolution. Yet, distinguishing adaptive gene expression shifts from neutral divergence remains challenging. Here, we integrate comparative transcriptomics and regulatory genomics to investigate how natural selection has shaped gene expression in African mole-rats, a group of subterranean rodents with phenotypic adaptations to underground environments. Using RNA-seq from liver and heart in two mole-rat species (naked mole-rat and Damaraland mole-rat) and two rodent outgroups (mouse and guinea pig), we leveraged phylogenetic models of expression evolution and identified hundreds of genes whose transcriptional levels have experienced accelerated evolution in each tissue and mole-rat species. These lineage-specific shifts account for only a small fraction of gene expression differences identified by classical differential expression analysis between species, underscoring the importance of phylogeny-aware inference to disentangle accelerated evolution from drift. To connect expression divergence with regulatory evolution, we integrated transcriptomic profiles with cis-regulatory landscapes. Genes with lineage-specific expression shifts displayed concordant changes in cis-regulatory activity, particularly at promoters, and the magnitude of expression divergence increased with the number of shifted cis-regulatory elements. Our results demonstrate that adaptive shifts in mole-rat gene expression are mirrored by regulatory evolution, providing genome-wide coordinated evidence of accelerated evolution on expression and regulation during mammalian evolution. Our approach thereby prioritises candidate loci that may have shaped adaptations specific to mole-rat physiology, including metabolic rewiring and stress responses.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Convergent gene expression in epithelial cells illuminates the evolution of uterine receptivity

The epithelium of the uterine endometrium is the first maternal interface encountered by the embryo, and plays crucial roles in the maternal-embryonic crosstalk necessary to embryo implantation. Mechanisms of embryo implantation are highly variable between mammals: humans and mice have convergently evolved similar embryo implantation phenotypes, where the embryo embeds in the maternal mucosa, which differs from the ancestral mammalian and primate phenotypes. This phenomenon is thought to be partly controlled by maternal epithelial receptivity signals during the window of implantation. Here, we combined endometrial epithelial organoid models and single-cell transcriptomics to investigate how gene expression has evolved in endometrial epithelial cells between human, non-human primates and mouse at key time points in the hormonal cycle. We discovered that many maternal genes involved in uterine receptivity and embryo implantation exhibit more similar expression patterns between human and mouse compared to macaque and marmoset. In particular, we show that the endometrial expression of LIF, a crucial actor of endometrial receptivity in both human and mouse, is likely an evolutionary convergence rather than a conserved feature as previously hypothesised.

evolutionary biology↗