Comparative analysis between endometrial proteomes of pregnant and non-pregnant ewes during the peri-implantation period

Background： Early pregnancy failure has a profound impact on both human reproductive health and animal production. 2/3 pregnancy failures occur during the peri-implantation period; however, the underlying mechanism（s） remains unclear. Well-organized modification of the endometrium to a receptive state is critical to establish pregnancy Aberrant endometrial modification during implantation is thought to be largely responsible for early pregnancy loss. Result： In this study, using well-managed recipient ewes that received embryo transfer as model, we compared the endometrial proteome between pregnant and non-pregnant ewes during implantation period. After embryo transfer, recipients were assigned as pregnant or non-pregnant ewes according to the presence or absence of an elongated conceptus at Day 17 of pregnancy. By comparing the endometrial proteomic profiles between pregnant and non-pregnant ewes, we identified 94 and 257 differentially expressed proteins （DEPs） in the endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas, respectively. Functional analysis showed that the DEPs were mainly associated with immune response, nutrient transport and utilization, as well as proteasome-mediated proteolysis. Conclusion： These analysis imply that dysfunction of these biological processes or pathways of DEP in the endometrium is highly associated with early pregnancy loss. In addition, many proteins that are essential for the establishment of pregnancy showed dysregulation in the endometrium of non-pregnant ewes. These proteins, as potential candidates, may contribute to early pregnancy loss.

Phosphorylation of histone H3 on Ser10 by auto-phosphorylated PAK1 is not essential for chromatin condensation and meiotic progression in porcine oocytes

Background： The p21-activated kinase 1 （PAK1）is essential of microtubule assembly during oocyte meiotic maturation porcine oocytes. for mitosis and plays an important role in the regulatio in mice; however, little is known about its role in Result： Total p21-activated kinase 1 （PAK1） and phosphorylated PAK1 at Thr423 （PAK1^Thr423） were consistently expressed in porcine oocytes from the germinal vesicle （GV） to the second metaphase （MII） stages, but phosphorylation of histone H3 at Serr10 （H3^ser10） was only expressed after the GV stage. Immunofiuorescence analysis revealed that PAK1Thr423 and H3^ser10 colocalized on chromosomes after the GV stage. Blocking of endogenous PAK1^Thr423 by injecting a specific antibody decreased the phosphorylation level of H3^ser10; however, it had no impact on chromatin condensation, meiotic progression, cleavage rate of blastomeres or the rate of blastocyst formation. Conclusion： Phosphorylation of PAK1^Thr423 is a spontaneous activation process and the activated PAK1^Thr423 can promote the phosphorylation of H3^ser10; however, this pathway is not required for meiotic maturation of porcine oocytes or early embryonic development.

Association of a missense mutation in the luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor gene (LHCGR) with superovulation traits in Chinese Holstein heifers

Background： Upon binding luteinizing hormone in the ovary, the luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor （LHCGR） is necessary for follicular maturation and ovulation, as well as luteal function. We detected mutations in the LHCGR gene and evaluated their association with superovulation. Methods： Using polymerase chain reaction-single strand sequencing, we examined polymorphisms in LHCGR and Chinese Holstein heifers. conformation polymorphism （PCR-SSCP） and DNA the genotypes associated with superovulation traits in 127 Results： A G/T polymorphism （ss52050737） in exon 11 was significantly associated with the total number of ova and the number of transferable embryos. Conclusions： LHCGR may be a new predictor for superovulation in Chinese Holstein heifers.

Comparative analysis of proteomic profiles between endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas in ewes during the peri-implantation period

The endometrium of sheep consists of plenty of raised intercaruncular areas （IC）. In order to better understand aglandular areas called caruncular （C）, and intensely glandular the endometrium involved mechanisms of implantation, we used LC-MS/MS technique to profile the proteome of ovine endometrial C areas and IC areas separately during the peri-implantation period, and then compared the proteomic profiles between these two areas. We successfully detected 1740 and 1813 proteins in C areas and IC areas respectively. By comparing the proteome of these two areas, we found 170 differentially expressed proteins （DEPs） （P 〈 0.05）, functional bioinformatics analysis showed these DEPs were mainly involved in growth and remodeling of endometrial tissue, cell adhesion and protein transport, and so on Our study, for the first time, provided a proteomic reference for elucidating the differences between C and IC areas, as an integrated function unit respectively, during the peri-implantation period. The results could help us to better understand the implantation in the ewes. In addition, we established a relatively detailed protein database of ovine endometrium, which provide a unique reference for further studies.

Swarm intelligence based clustering and localizing methods for loitering munitions in a satellite denied environment

In the networking of loitering munitions during a battle,clustering and localizing algorithms become a major problem because of their highly dynamic topological structure,incomplete connectivity,and limited energy.This paper proposed swarm intelligence based collaborative localizing,clustering,and routing scheme for an ad hoc network of loitering munitions in a satellite denied environment.A hybrid algorithm was first devised by integrating an improved coyote optimization algorithm with a simplified grey wolf optimizer under the sinusoidal crossover strategy.The performance of this algorithm was considerably improved thanks to integration.On this basis,a swarm intelligence based localizing algorithm was presented.Bounding cubes were created to reduce the initial search space,which effectively lowered the localizing error.Second,an energysaving clustering algorithm based on the hybrid algorithm was put forward to enhance the clustering efficiency by virtue of grey wolf hierarchy.Meanwhile,an analysis model was developed to determine the optimal number of clusters using the lowest possible number of transmissions.Ultimately,a compressed sensing routing scheme based on the hybrid algorithm was proposed to transmit data from a cluster head to a base station.This algorithm constructed an efficient routing tree from the cluster head to the base station,so as to reduce the routing delay and transmission count.As revealed in the results of simulation experiments,the proposed collaborative localizing,clustering and routing algorithms achieved better performance than other popular algorithms employed in various scenarios.