Molecular interactions at the bovine embryo–endometrial epithelium interface
We aimed to interrogate the embryo–maternal interface for embryo-induced changes in the global transcriptome of bovine endometrial epithelial cells (bEECs). In vitro-produced day-5.5 morulae were cultured in juxtacrine apposition (Contact+) with bEECs, or in transwells (Contact?), for 48 h. A group of bEECs cultured in the absence of embryos (Control bEEC) was also included. After co-culture, bEECs were recovered for transcriptome analysis. Overall design: Bovine endometrial epithelial cells (bEECs) were co-cultured in juxtacrine (Contact+) or non-juxtacrine (Contact-) apposition with in vitro-derived morulae for 48 h. bEECs transcriptomes were sequenced (NGS) on the BGISEQ-500 platform.