This study contrasts the expression profiles of peripheral blood leukocytes from third trimester pregnant mothers, with cord blood leukocytes from their newborn children. It is a companion to (GSE21311). After normalization for RNA integrity, major principal components of the variation were found to distinguish individuals. Transmission of gene expression profiles from mother to child was documented, along with differences between gestational diabetic, obese, and normal weight mothers and their children.

56 individulas (Brisbane, Australia) were sampled for the mother-newborn study, under informed consent. 19 mothers sample were collected in the last month of pregnancy (between 30th and 36th week of pregnancy) and 37 cord blood samples were obtained at birth from newborn babies. Mothers having BMI values over 30 before pregnancy were classified as obese. From the 37 newborn babies, 10 were born to obese mothers, 8 to gestational diabetic mothers (with a wide range of body mass indices), and 19 to normal-weight mothers. There were 16 mother-newborn pairs in the dataset. RNA from each was hybridized to an Illumina HT12 array.