Discovery of candidate genes and pathways in the endometrium regulating ovine blastocyst growth and conceptus elongation.
Establishment of pregnancy in ruminants requires blastocyst growth to form an elongated conceptus that produces interferon tau, the pregnancy recognition signal, and initiates implantation. Blastocyst growth and development requires secretions from the uterine endometrium. An early increase in circulating concentrations of progesterone (P4) stimulates blastocyst growth and elongation in ruminants. This study utilized sheep as a model to identify candidate genes and regulatory networks in the endometrium that govern preimplantation blastocyst growth and development. Ewes were treated daily with either P4 or corn oil vehicle from day 1.5 after mating to either day 9 or day 12 of pregnancy when endometrium was obtained by hysterectomy. Microarray analyses revealed many differentially expressed genes in the endometria affected by day of pregnancy and early P4 treatment. In situ hybridization analyses revealed that many differentially expressed genes were expressed in a cell-specific manner within the endometrium. The Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) was used to identify functional groups of genes and biological processes in the endometrium that are associated with growth and development of preimplantation blastocysts. Notably, biological processes affected by day of pregnancy and/or early P4 treatment included lipid biosynthesis and metabolism, angiogenesis, transport, extracellular space, defense and inflammatory response, proteolysis, amino acid transport and metabolism, and hormone metabolism. This transcriptomic data provides novel insights into the biology of endometrial function and preimplantation blastocyst growth and development in sheep.
Satterfield
M Carey
MC
Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-2471, USA.
Song
Gwonhwa
G
Kochan
Kelli J
KJ
Riggs
Penny K
PK
Simmons
Rebecca M
RM
Elsik
Christine G
CG
Adelson
David L
DL
Bazer
Fuller W
FW
Zhou
Huaijun
H
Spencer
Thomas E
TE
D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D003314:Corn Oil / Q000494:pharmacology; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D004717:Endometrium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000187:drug effects; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011374:Progesterone / Q000494:pharmacology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D034561:Sheep, Domestic / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D013997:Time Factors
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011374:Progesterone; D003314:Corn Oil