HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 77/6/1027    most recent biolreprod.107.063594v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lewis, S. K Articles by Spencer, T. E Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lewis, S. K Articles by Spencer, T. E Agricola Articles by Lewis, S. K Articles by Spencer, T. E

Galectin 15 (LGALS15): A Gene Uniquely Expressed in the Uteri of Sheep and Goats that Functions in Trophoblast Attachment¹

Center for Animal Biotechnology and Genomics, Departments of Animal Science⁴ and Veterinary Integrative Biosciences,⁵ Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843 Cooperative Agricultural Research Center,⁶ Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas 77446

ABSTRACT

Galectins are a family of secreted animal lectins with biological roles in cell adhesion and migration. In sheep, galectin 15 (LGALS15) is expressed specifically in the endometrial luminal (LE) and superficial glandular (sGE) epithelia of the uterus in concert with blastocyst elongation during the peri-implantation period. The present study examined LGALS15 expression in the uterus of cattle, goats, and pigs. Although the bovine genome contains an LGALS15-like gene, expressed sequence tags encoding LGALS15 mRNA were found only for sheep, and full-length LGALS15 cDNAs were cloned only from endometrial total RNA isolated from pregnant sheep and goats, but not pregnant cattle or pigs. Ovine and caprine LGALS15 were highly homologous at the mRNA (95%) and protein (91%) levels, and all contained a conserved carbohydrate recognition domain and RGD recognition sequence for integrin binding. Endometrial LGALS15 mRNA levels increased after Day 11 of both the estrous cycle and pregnancy, and were considerably increased after Day 15 of pregnancy in goats. In situ hybridization detected abundant LGALS15 mRNA in endometrial LE and sGE of early pregnant goats, but not in cattle or pigs. Immunoreactive LGALS15 protein was present in endometrial epithelia and conceptus trophectoderm of goat uteri and detected within intracellular crystal structures in trophectoderm and LE. Recombinant ovine and caprine LGALS15 proteins elicited a dose-dependent increase in ovine trophectoderm cell attachment in vitro that was comparable to bovine fibronectin. These results support the hypothesis that LGALS15 is uniquely expressed in Caprinae endometria and functions as an attachment factor important for peri-implantation blastocyst elongation.

conceptus, implantation, pregnancy, trophoblast, uterus

³These authors contributed equally to this work.

¹Supported by the National Research Initiative Competitive Grant 2005-35203-16252 from the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and NIH Grant 5 P30 ES09106.

Correspondence: ²Thomas E. Spencer, Center for Animal Biotechnology and Genomics, 442 Kleberg Center, 2471 TAMU, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-2471. FAX: 979 862 2662; e-mail: tspencer{at}tamu.edu

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. E Spencer, O. Sandra, and E. Wolf Genes involved in conceptus-endometrial interactions in ruminants: insights from reductionism and thoughts on holistic approaches Reproduction, February 1, 2008; 135(2): 165 - 179. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]