Review
Behavioral Sciences
Samantha C. Lauby, Alison S. Fleming, Patrick O. McGowan
Summary: The early-life maternal environment and non-maternal factors play important roles in the developmental programming of offspring, including epigenetic regulation and temperature exposure. Research has shown that maternal care can influence offspring's neuroendocrine function and behavior, but other factors also have direct effects.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Daniel J. Mathew, Katie D. Peterson, L. Kirsten Senn, Mary A. Oliver, Alan D. Ealy
Summary: This review discusses the breakthrough discovery of interferon-tau and its role in conceptus-maternal interactions during early pregnancy in ruminants. It highlights the importance of communication between the conceptus and endometrium for maintaining pregnancies and describes the influence of conceptus sex, quality, and development method on endometrial function. The article also explores how omic technologies have aided in identifying novel factors and their functions, providing insights for developing strategies to prevent early embryonic loss.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Yuqi Wang, Bernd Riedstra, Ronja Hulst, Roy Noordhuis, Ton Groothuis
Summary: Maternal androgen exposure affects offspring development, and avian eggs are often used to study maternal effects. This study investigated the effects of yolk androgens and their metabolite etiocholanolone on embryonic heart rate during early development. The results showed that increased androgen exposure and etiocholanolone levels increased heart rate, suggesting that maternal androgens increase overall embryonic metabolism and may account for developmental outcomes such as increased growth. Etiocholanolone is likely an important metabolite in the non-genomic pathway underlying the androgen-mediated maternal effect.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Charles Banliat, Coline Mahe, Regis Lavigne, Emmanuelle Com, Charles Pineau, Valerie Labas, Benoit Guyonnet, Pascal Mermillod, Marie Saint-Dizier
Summary: The study revealed significant differences in protein expression between in vivo and in vitro developed bovine embryos, with embryos developed in vivo internalizing large amounts of oviductin and other proteins early in development, potentially contributing to their higher developmental ability.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Miriam Vlachovicova, Jana Spulerova
Summary: This study analyzed bird assemblages in vineyards in Slovakia and found that bird communities were influenced by both environmental and spatial factors. The results showed that tree coverage had a greater impact on bird species richness than vineyard abandonment rate, while shrub density was a key explanatory factor for habitat specialist abundance.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Suzanne H. Austin, Jesse S. Krause, Rechelle Viernes, Victoria S. Farrar, April M. Booth, Rayna M. Harris, Frederic Angelier, Candice Lee, Annie Bond, John C. Wingfield, Matthew M. MacManes, Rebecca M. Calisi
Summary: This study characterized the circulating levels of key hormones involved in reproduction in rock doves and found that males had high testosterone levels during nest-building or egg-laying, while prolactin increased at mid-incubation and corticosterone levels were elevated in later incubation and early nestling development. Experimental manipulations showed that males responded quickly to nest loss by increasing testosterone, but this response was muted when nest loss occurred early in reproduction. Females, on the other hand, either did not change or decreased in hormone levels following nest manipulation, suggesting a decrease in reproductive processes.
FRONTIERS IN ENDOCRINOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Erin Chille, Emma Strand, Mayaan Neder, Valeria Schmidt, Madeleine Sherman, Tali Mass, Hollie Putnam
Summary: In the Pacific rice coral, four expression peaks were identified, representing maternal complement, two waves of the MZT, and adult expression. Maternal transcripts are dominated by functions related to cell division, methylation, biosynthesis, metabolism, and protein/RNA processing and transport. The two waves of the MZT involve functions related to biosynthesis, cell division, transcription, ion/peptide transport, and cell signaling. Adult expression is enriched for functions related to signaling, metabolism, and ion/peptide transport.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elisa Guma, Maude Bordeleau, Fernando Gonzalez Ibanez, Katherine Picard, Emily Snook, Gabriel Desrosiers-Gregoire, Shoshana Spring, Jason P. Lerch, Brian J. Nieman, Gabriel A. Devenyi, Marie-Eve Tremblay, M. Mallar Chakravarty
Summary: Exposure to maternal immune activation (MIA) during pregnancy affects embryo development, with early exposure leading to increased apoptotic cell density, and late exposure, especially in female embryos, resulting in increased neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hui Chen, David Van Reyk, Annabel Oliveira, Yik Lung Chan, Stephanie E. L. Town, Benjamin Rayner, Carol A. Pollock, Sonia Saad, Jacob George, Matthew P. Padula, Brian G. Oliver
Summary: Maternal exposure to low levels of PM2.5 has negative effects on liver health and metabolism in offspring, with more severe impacts on females. Removing PM2.5 during gestation provides limited protection in offspring's metabolism.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Thomas G. G. Bean, Elizabeth A. A. Chadwick, Marta Herrero-Villar, Rafael Mateo, Vinny Naidoo, Barnett A. A. Ratter
Summary: The majority of knowledge on the risk of pharmaceuticals to wildlife comes from the Asian vulture crisis, where the use of diclofenac led to a severe decline in vulture populations. NSAIDs like diclofenac have been found to be hazardous to vultures and other avian species. While research on pharmaceutical exposure in birds is extensive, there are still knowledge gaps for amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Irene Peral-Sanchez, Batoul Hojeij, Diego A. Ojeda, Regine P. M. Steegers-Theunissen, Sandrine Willaime-Morawek
Summary: This review examines the relationship between non-communicable diseases, environmental exposures, and lifestyle behaviors, focusing on the impact of poor maternal diet on embryonic development and epigenetic modifications. Various types of nutritional stressors and their effects on target genes and outcomes are discussed, as well as the relationship between maternal diets and assisted reproductive technology.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Adham Fawarseh, Yuval Atzmon, Nardin Aslih, Asaf Bilgory, Einat Shalom-Paz
Summary: This study examined the impact of maternal BMI on embryo morphokinetics and the outcomes of frozen embryo transfer cycles. The findings showed that embryos from normal-weight patients had slower cleavage rates compared to obese patients, but the quality of the embryos was similar between the BMI groups. There were no significant differences in pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate, or miscarriage rate among the groups.
Article
Ecology
A. K. Pettersen, S. Ruuskanen, A. Nord, J. F. Nilsson, M. R. Minano, L. J. Fitzpatrick, G. M. While, T. Uller
Summary: The thermal sensitivity of early life stages can restrict species distributions. In this study, we examined the mechanisms that enable successful development in cool climates for wall lizards. We found evidence of local adaptation to cool climate, with embryos from high altitudes using less energy to complete development and allocating more energy towards tissue production.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
R. A. Chanaka Rabel, Paula V. Marchioretto, Elizabeth A. Bangert, Kenneth Wilson, Derek J. Milner, Matthew B. Wheeler
Summary: Conventional breeding practices limit the reproductive capacity of dairy/beef cows, while embryo transfer technologies enable cows to pass their genetics to hundreds of calves through surrogate cows. However, the current pregnancy rates from the transfer of in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos are not satisfactory, and an alternative to microscopy-based embryo evaluation is needed. Many evaluation methods have been tested, but most are expensive, laborious, and not practical for large-scale embryo production/transfer facilities.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nozomi Tatsuta, Kunihiko Nakai, Shoji F. Nakayama, Ayano Takeuchi, Takahiro Arima, Nobuo Yaegashi, Michihiro Kamijima, Shin Yamazaki, Yukihiro Ohya, Reiko Kishi, Koichi Hashimoto, Chisato Mori, Shuichi Ito, Zentaro Yamagata, Hidekuni Inadera, Takeo Nakayama, Hiroyasu Iso, Masayuki Shima, Youichi Kurozawa, Narufumi Suganuma, Koichi Kusuhara, Takahiko Katoh
Summary: A decline in the proportion of male births (secondary sex ratio, SSR) has been observed in several countries including Japan. This study aimed to investigate the association between maternal lead exposure and SSR. The results showed that higher maternal lead exposures during pregnancy were associated with increased SSR.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)