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Circadian clockwork genes are expressed in the reproductive tract and conceptus of the early pregnant mouse*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1472-6483(10)61931-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Circadian genes are expressed in some peripheral tissues, but the expression status of the female reproductive tract and the conceptus over the preimplantation period is unknown. Oocytes, uterine, oviducal tissues and preimplantation conceptuses from days 1–4 of mouse pregnancy were analysed for transcript presence by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Transcripts encoded by the seven known mammalian canonical circadian genes (Per1–3, Cry1–2, Bmal1 and Clock), plus the mammalian genetic homologue of the Drosophila canonical gene Timeless, were detected in the uteri and oviducts taken from mice on days 1–4 of pregnancy and in unfertilized oocytes. After fertilization, transcripts for Per1, Cry1, Bmal1, Clock and Tim have been detected unambiguously. Transcript levels for each of these five genes fall at the two-cell stage, but are restored rapidly for Per1, Cry1 and Bmal1, presumptively by zygotic gene expression. In contrast, transcripts for Clock and Tim recover more slowly. It is concluded that circadian genes are expressed, and may therefore have a role, during the early development of the mammal.

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Martin H Johnson is Professor of Reproductive Sciences in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Cambridge UK, Professorial Fellow of Christ's College Cambridge, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Sydney, Australia (1999–2002). He was a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (1993–1999), Chairman of the British Society for Developmental Biology (1984–1989), and Head of the Anatomy Department, Cambridge (1995–1999). He was an

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    Martin H Johnson is Professor of Reproductive Sciences in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Cambridge UK, Professorial Fellow of Christ's College Cambridge, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Sydney, Australia (1999–2002). He was a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (1993–1999), Chairman of the British Society for Developmental Biology (1984–1989), and Head of the Anatomy Department, Cambridge (1995–1999). He was an invited lecturer at several meetings in the 1990s. In 1989 he was awarded the Albert Brachet Prize and the Diploma of Laureate of the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts, and in 1993 he was appointed Distinguished Visiting Fellow at La Trobe University, Melbourne and was elected to the Society of Scholars of Johns Hopkins University. He is co-author with Professor Barry Everitt of Essential Reproduction, now in its fifth edition from Blackwell Science.

    *

    Paper based on contribution presented at the Alpha meeting in New York, USA, September 2001.

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