MCZ Lunchtime Seminars

Evolutionary Dynamics of Fetal-Maternal Signaling in Mammals

Daniel Stadtmauer
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Tabin Lab
Harvard Medical School

Mammalian pregnancy involves prolonged interactions between fetal and maternal cells, and the placental interface varies extensively across species. Theory predicts that conflict over how many offspring receive maternal investment, and how much they receive, has shaped the evolution of early development in mammals. In this talk, I will show how comparative approaches including single-cell transcriptomics allow foundational evolutionary predictions to be explored at a resolution and scale not previously possible. First, I will trace the evolutionary origins of cell types in the maternal decidua and fetal trophoblast and the co-evolution of signaling between them. Second, I will examine the macroevolutionary relationship between ovulation rate and surviving litter size, highlighting species with extreme overproduction-attrition dynamics whose embryos must survive a selection arena. I argue that the female reproductive tract has evolved both to nurture offspring and to mediate selection among them, and this dual role has shaped the evolution of mammalian early development and life-history strategies.