Population-specific heterogeneity in ontogeny of the broadly-conserved blood transcriptional program during the first week of life
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Previous research has shown that immune development during the first week of life, i.e. ontogeny, is progressive, consistent and robust, involving large numbers of differentially expressed genes at each sampled time point. To obtain more granular detail about conserved and population-specific ontogeny, the influence of day of life on blood gene expression and cell type composition was examined in two distinct neonatal populations, from The Gambia and Papua New Guinea, employing block randomization strategies to minimize batch effects. This enabled more detailed conclusions about ontogenic program differences between the two cohorts. Population-specific ontogeny revealed mechanistic insights likely to contribute to inherent population-based heterogeneity in the efficiency of neonatal immune responses, including cell cycle, kinesins, and DAP12 signaling in Papua New Guinea, and antigen presentation, clathrin-mediated endocytosis and alpha-defensins in The Gambia. Differences between populations interconnect using protein:protein interaction networks of population-specific genes and pathinkR-based pathway networks and heat maps, thus fitting the concept of pathway/network remodeling. In addition to the population-specific changes, there is a profound core ontogenic gene-expression program involving ~18% of all expressed genes with remarkable 88-96% conservation at each day of life, revealing new contributors to this shared early-life ontogenic program.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Bhavjinder K. Dhillon, Travis M. Blimkie, Olubukola T. Idoko, Rebecca Ford, Asimenia Angelidou, Rym Ben-Othman, Sebastiano Montante, Nelly Amenyogbe, Tida Dibassey, Joann Diray-Arce, Reza Falsafi, Abdulazeez Imam, Kerry McEnaney, Oludare A. Odumade, Al Ozonoff, William S. Pomat, Peter C. Richmond, Kinga K. Smolen, Oghenebrume Wariri, Andy An, Samuel H. Hinshaw, Maren Smith, Amy H. Lee, Kendyll Burnell, Jing Chen, Mitchell Cooney, Benoit Fatou, Annmarie Hoch, Meagan E. Karoly, Thomas S. Kouyate, Ken Kraft, Mark Liu, Caitlyn McLoughlin, Elena Morrocchi, Athena Nguyen, Jensen Pak, Matthew A. Pettengill, Alec Plotkin, Shun Rao, Guzman Sanchez-Schmitz, Hanno Steen, Caitlin Syphurs, Simon D. van Haren, Sofia Vignolo, Diana Vo, Wendy Kirarock, Geraldine Masiria, John Paul Matlam, Gerard Saleu, Fatoumatta Ceesay, Fatoumata Cole, Dorcas Joseph, Joe Jude, Guzman Sanchez-Schmitz, Simon D. van Haren, David Martino, Peter C. Richmond, Amenyogbe, Othman, Ryan R. Brinkman, Mehrnoush Malek, Momoudou Cox, Alansana Darboe, Olubukola T. Idoko, Beate Kampmann, Jorjoh Ndure, Jainaba Njie-Jobe, Elishia Roberts, Julia Strandmark, Joann Diray-Arce, Richmond, David Martino, Anita H. J. van den Biggelaar, Edward P. K. Parker, Beate Kampmann, Winnie Bao, Bing Cai, Joe Huang, Natallia Varankovich, Tue B. Bennike, Tue B. Bennike, Benoit Fatou, Arthur Viode, Hanno Steen, Ryan R. Brinkman, Abhinav Checkervarty, Virginia Chen, Daniel He, Casey P. Shannon, Scott J. Tebbutt, Abhinav Checkervarty, Virginia Chen, Daniel He, Casey P. Shannon, Scott J. Tebbutt, Jing Chen, Freddy Francis, Danny J. Harbeson, Daniel He, Aaron Liu, Samuel H. Hinshaw, Olubukola T. Idoko, Arnaud Marchant, David Martino, Peter C. Richmond, Amrit Singh, Scott J. Tebbutt, Geert LeRoux-Roels, Gwenn Waerlop, Ofer Levy, Anita H. J. van den Biggelaar, Beate Kampmann, Tobias R. Kollmann, Amy H. Y. Lee, Robert E. W. Hancock
Institutions: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Boston Children's Hospital, Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University, The Kids Research Institute Australia, BC Cancer Agency, Dalhousie University, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, MRC Unit the Gambia, Medical Research Council, Broad Institute, The University of Western Australia, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth Children's Hospital, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
OpenAlex ID: W7163008564
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