Combined hormone drugs are the basis for orally administered contraception. However, they are associated with severe side effects that are even more impactful for women in developing countries, where resources are limited. The risk of side effects may be reduced by non-hormonal small molecules which specifically target proteins involved in fertilization. In this study, we present a virtual docking experiment directed to discover molecules that target the crucial fertilization interactions of JUNO (oocyte) and IZUMO1 (sperm). We docked 913,000 molecules to two crystal structures of JUNO and ranked them on the basis of energy-related criteria. Of the 32 tested candidates, two molecules (i.e., Z786028994 and Z1290281203) demonstrated fertilization inhibitory effect in both an in vitro fertilization (IVF) assay in mice and an in vitro penetration of human sperm into hamster oocytes. Despite this clear effect on fertilization, these two molecules did not show JUNO–IZUMO1 interaction blocking activity as assessed by AVidity-based EXtracellular Interaction Screening (AVEXIS). Therefore, further research is required to determine the mechanism of action of these two fertilization inhibitors.

No abstract

No abstract

The development and implementation of an effective product policy is currently a priority in ensuring the competitiveness of agricultural enterprises in the target markets. The construction of an effective model of product policy of these enterprises is based on an effective system of collection, analysis and interpretation of marketing information about the functioning of external and internal environment of the economic entity in the structure of marketing information system. Thus, marketing information support of product policy of agribusiness enterprises is an effective tool for gaining market power in the system of modern macro- and micro-economic coordinates. In the context of the development of the concept of agro-marketing the system of marketing research of agribusiness enterprises is the basis for the implementation of their product policy, starting from the justification of the product concept and ending with the development of algorithms for marketing decision-making to ensure the strategic position of the company in the target markets. The complex of marketing decisions, taken when justifying and implementing the product policy of the enterprise, should be based on the representative information about the configuration of internal and external market environment. In the context of the priority of marketing information system as an analytical component of economic activity of agroindustrial complex enterprises it is advisable to diagnose the current state of their information support by questioning with the use of specially designed questionnaires. It has been established that the presence of agribusiness enterprises' need for marketing research is determined by internal factors, in particular, by the economic condition of enterprises. Thus, the largest share of enterprises in need of marketing research have a successful economic situation, which is due to the fact that this group of enterprises has its own resources and competencies for the formation of marketing information system. It is essential that the enterprises having problematic and unsatisfactory economic situation do not have effective research systems as a tool for studying their internal marketing environment. Marketing research, conducted by agribusiness enterprises, covers a wide range of problems of enterprise functioning, in particular, efficiency of pricing policy, establishment of supply channels and analysis of needs of target consumers. The achievement of strategic goals of agribusiness enterprises in the long term is achieved through the formation of a marketing information system of the enterprise, the effectiveness of which is based on the integrated implementation of the managerial, instrumental and technological components.

In the conditions of foreign economic vector of development of agrarian sector of economy, turbulence of external marketing environment and variability of behavior of target consumers substantiation of commodity policy of agrarian enterprises and system-forming factor of increase of efficiency of their marketing activity. In the context of the importance of achieving a stable competitive position of the enterprise in the target market, the priority is to determine the external and internal determinants of the formation of the product portfolio of agricultural enterprises, its structure and configuration. In the theoretical and applied sense, the justification of the strategic development of marketing activities of economic entities, the implementation of an integrated assessment of product policy of enterprises in the field of agribusiness is an important factor in gaining market power. Identification of key determinants of the formation of product policy of agricultural enterprises is based on the methodological platform of leading economic schools and doctrines and is presented in the form of a structural and logical scheme. Strategic imperatives of influencing the commodity policy of agribusiness enterprises directly determine the vector of development of their economic activity and are the fundamental regulators of the external and internal marketing environment. The results of the decomposition analysis present the key features of the product policy of agricultural enterprises in relation to other marketing tools and other areas of activity in the context of tools to increase the competitiveness of enterprises in target markets. For an integrated assessment of the product policy of agribusiness enterprises, it is advisable to use a set of factors to determine the effectiveness of marketing activities of these enterprises. For the purpose of analytical substantiation of a condition of commodity policy of the agricultural enterprises the marketing research by a survey method on the basis of the specially developed questionnaire containing questions concerning a marketing complex, a profile of target consumers and strategic planning is carried out. The presented results of the research are the basis for further promising areas of improving the methodology of formation of commodity policy of agricultural enterprises and the use of its integrated assessment in the context of ensuring the strategic development of economic entities in domestic and foreign markets.