Progesterone, acting through the progesterone receptors (PGRs), is one of the most critical regulators of endometrial differentiation, known as decidualization, which is a key step toward the establishment of pregnancy. Yet a long-standing unresolved issue in uterine biology is the precise roles played by the major PGR isoforms, PGR-A and PGR-B, during decidualization in the human. Our approach, expressing PGR-A and PGR-B individually after silencing endogenous PGRs in human endometrial stromal cells (HESCs), enabled the analysis of the roles of these isoforms separately as well as jointly. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing in combination with gene expression profiling revealed that PGR-B controls a substantially larger cistrome and transcriptome than PGR-A during HESC differentiation. Interestingly, PGR-B directly regulates the expression of PGR-A. De novo motif analysis indicated that, although the 2 isoforms bind to the same DNA sequence motif, there are both common and unique neighboring motifs where other transcription factors, such as FOSL1/2, JUN, C/EBPβ, and STAT3, bind and dictate the transcriptional activities of these isoforms. We found that PGR-A and PGR-B regulate overlapping as well as distinct sets of genes, many of which are known to be critical for decidualization and establishment of pregnancy. When PGR-A and PGR-B were coexpressed during HESC differentiation, PGR-B played a predominant role, although both isoforms influenced each other's transcriptional activity. This study revealed the gene networks that operate downstream of each PGR isoform to mediate critical functions, such as regulation of the cell cycle, angiogenesis, lysosomal activation, insulin receptor signaling, and apoptosis, during decidualization in the human.

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Growth of a wall-less, L-form of Escherichia coli specifically requires calcium, and in its absence, cells ceased dividing, became spherical, swelled, developed large vacuoles, and eventually lysed. The key cell division protein, FtsZ, was present in the L-form at a concentration five times less than that in the parental strain. One interpretation of these results is that the L-form possesses an enzoskeleton partly regulated by calcium.Numerous roles for calcium in bacteria are now becoming apparent (10,12,19). We have proposed that calcium has a role as a "general reset" in cells (12) and that it participates in the regulation of the putative bacterial "enzoskeleton" (14). This enzoskeleton would comprise proteins such as the tubulin-like protein, FtsZ, which is the key player in cell division and which in vitro has a calcium-stimulated polymerization and GTPase activity (24). L-forms are wall-less derivatives of bacteria that grow and divide despite their lack of a normal peptidoglycan sacculus (7,8,15,18,22). This means that the morphology and progress through the cell cycle of L-forms must result from forces acting via some structure other than the sacculus. Membrane domains have been considered candidates for such structures (7), and these probably result from the coupled transcription, translation, and insertion (transertion) of proteins into and through membranes (1), processes that generate sufficient force to hold L-forms together (13). The L-form NC-7, which is a derivative of an Escherichia coli K-12 strain (16), possesses a secondary calcium/proton antiporter (17) and reveals a general inhibition of growth following addition of the calcium chelator EGTA (15 [but also see reference 23]). NC-7 is therefore an ideal model system for exploring the hypothesis of an enzoskeleton controlled by calcium.Effects of divalent ions on growth. First, the identity of the L-forms derived from E. coli (16) was confirmed by PCR amplification of ftsZ, hisS, and orf80 to obtain products of the expected M r (20), sequencing of 210 bp of the glnA gene (cloned at random), and N-terminal sequencing of Dps, YfiD, and the E1 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (4). Then, to study the effects of divalent ions, cells were preincubated in modified Na-Davis medium plus 1 mM EGTA and 2 M ionophore A23187 (to equilibrate internal and external calcium levels) for 3 h, harvested in the exponential phase of growth by centrifugation (1,000 ϫ g for 10 min), washed once with growth medium, and resuspended in modified Na-Davis medium containing either 0.2 or 0.5 mM BAPTA [1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,NЈ,NЈ-tetraacetic acid]. Modified Na-Davis medium contains 0.7 g of K 2 HPO 4 , 0.2 g of KH 2 PO 4 , 1 g of (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , 0.5 g of sodium succinate, 2 g of peptone, 1 g of yeast extract, 2 g of glucose, 0.34 M NaCl, 10 5 U of penicillin G, and 50 M (each) FeCl 2 , ZnCl 2 , MgCl 2 , CaCl 2 , and MnCl 2 . Cells were agitated at 45 rpm and 32°C, and plastic tubes were used throughout. Following preincubation, cells were trans...

Background: Intrauterine estrogen plays a critical role in differentiation of endometrial stromal cells during decidualization. Results: FRA-1 is a downstream target of estrogen receptor regulation in the uterine stroma. Loss of FRA-1 expression inhibits stromal cell differentiation and migration. Conclusion: FRA-1 regulates stromal differentiation and remodeling during early pregnancy. Significance: This study identifies a novel downstream mediator of estrogen receptor signaling during decidualization.

SummaryThis study was conducted to determine the effects of plant extract mixture (PEM) inclusion at different levels and copper into diets of hens on performance, egg quality traits, yolk and serum cholesterol content and yolk fatty acid composition. A total of 192 Lohmann white layers, 38 wks of age, were used in this study. The experiment was carried out on a control and 7 treatments groups (basal diet plus 200 mg/kg copper (CuSO 4 .5H 2 O), 500 mg/kg PEM, 500 mg/kg PEM + 200 mg/kg copper, 750 mg/kg PEM, 750 mg/kg PEM + 200 mg/kg copper, 1000 mg/kg PEM + 200 mg/kg copper). PEM, copper and PEM plus copper combinations did not affect performance parameters. Increasing level of PEM increased quadratically shell stiffness and linearly shell thickness, but did not affect other egg traits. Treatments had no a significant effect on cholesterol and trigliserid concentrations of egg and serum. While supplemented PEM and copper did not affect fatty acid level of yolk, PEM plus copper combination increased oleic acid and total MUFA levels. Results obtained from present study showed that supplementation of a mixed herbal product containing Origanum vulgare (dried leaf ), Thymus vulgaris (dried leaf ), thyme oil, origanum oil, garlic oil, anise oil and fennel oil to diets of laying hens can be beneficial to improve egg quality traits especially such as shell stiffness and thickness. Keywords ÖzetBu çalışma, yumurtacı tavuk rasyonlarına ilave edilen farklı seviyelerde bitki ekstrakt karışımının ve bakırın performans, yumurta kalitesi, yumurta sarısı ve serum kolesterol içeriği ile yumurta sarısı yağ asidi kompozisyonu üzerine etkisini belirlemek amacıyla yürütülmüştür. Araştırmada; 38 haftalık yaşta 192 adet Lohmann beyaz yumurtacı tavuk kullanılmıştır. Deneme, bir kontrol ve 7 muamele (200 mg/kg bakır, 500 mg/kg bitki ekstrakt karışımı, 500 mg/kg bitki ekstrakt karışımı + 200 mg/kg bakır, 750 mg/kg bitki ekstrakt karışımı, 750 mg/kg bitki ekstrakt karışımı + 200 mg/kg bakır, 1000 mg/kg bitki ekstrakt karışımı, 1000 mg/kg bitki ekstrakt karışımı + 200 mg/kg bakır) grubundan oluşmuştur. Bitki ekstrakt karışımı, bakır ve bakır ile bitki ekstrakt karışımının performans parametrelerini etkilemediği tespit edilmiştir. Bitki ekstrakt karışımının artan seviyesi kırılma mukavemetini ve kabuk kalınlığını artırmasına rağmen diğer yumurta kalite kriterlerin de önemli bir etkiye sahip olmadığı saptanmıştır. Muamele grupları arasında yumurta sarısı kolesterol ve trigliserid oranı ile serum kolesterol ve trigliserid oranları bakımından önemli bir farklılığın olmadığı tespit edilmiştir. Bitki ekstrakt karışımı ile bakır kombinasyonu yumurta sarısında oleik asit ve toplam MUFA seviyesini artırırken diğer uygulamaların yumurta sarısı yağ asidi oranı üzerine etkisinin olmadığı belirlenmiştir. Sonuç olarak; yumurtacı tavuk rasyonlarına kekik, kekik otu, kekik yağı, sarımsak yağı, anason ve rezene yağından oluşan bitki ekstrakt karışımı ilavesinin yumurta kalite kriterlerini özellikle kabuk kalınlığı ve kırılma mukavemetini artırmada faydalı...