Survey of Sensitivity to Fatty Acid-Amino Acid Conjugates in the Solanaceae.

Plants perceive insect herbivores via a sophisticated surveillance system that detects a range of alarm signals, including herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs). Fatty acid-amino acid conjugates (FACs) are HAMPs present in oral secretions (OS) of lepidopteran larvae that induce defense responses in many plant species. In contrast to eggplant (Solanum melongena), tomato (S.

Regional Variation in Androgen Receptor Expression and Biomechanical Properties May Contribute to Cryptorchidism Susceptibility in the LE/orl Rat.

The process of testicular descent requires androgen and insulin-like 3, hormones secreted by fetal Leydig cells. Knowledge concerning distinct and common functions of these hormones in regulating development of the fetal gubernaculum remains limited and/or conflicting. The current studies were designed to better define characteristics of androgen receptor (AR) expression, function and regulation, as well as the biomechanical properties of normal and cryptorchid gubernaculum during fetal development.

Fetal Rat Gubernaculum Mesenchymal Cells Adopt Myogenic and Myofibroblast-Like Phenotypes.

Purpose: Gubernaculum-cremaster complex development is hormonally regulated and abnormal in a cryptorchid rat model. Using cell tracking techniques and imaging we studied myogenic phenotypes and fates in the fetal rat gubernaculum-cremaster complex.

Materials And Methods: Embryonic day 17 gubernaculum-cremaster complexes were labeled with CellTracker™ or the DNA synthesis marker EdU (5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine), or immobilized in Matrigel® and grown in culture.

Polygenic inheritance of cryptorchidism susceptibility in the LE/orl rat.

Study Hypothesis: Susceptibility to inherited cryptorchidism in the LE/orl rat may be associated with genetic loci that influence developmental patterning of the gubernaculum by the fetal testis.

Study Finding: Cryptorchidism in the LE/orl rat is associated with a unique combination of homozygous minor alleles at multiple loci, and the encoded proteins are co-localized with androgen receptor (AR) and Leydig cells in fetal gubernaculum and testis, respectively.

What Is Known Already: Prior studies have shown aberrant perinatal gubernacular migration, muscle patterning defects and reduced fetal testicular testosterone in the LE/orl strain.

Phenotype specific association of the TGFBR3 locus with nonsyndromic cryptorchidism.

Purpose: Based on a genome-wide association study of testicular dysgenesis syndrome showing a possible association with TGFBR3, we analyzed data from a larger, phenotypically restricted cryptorchidism population for potential replication of this signal.

Materials And Methods: We excluded samples based on strict quality control criteria, leaving 844 cases and 2,718 controls of European ancestry that were analyzed in 2 separate groups based on genotyping platform (ie Illumina® HumanHap550, version 1 or 3, or Human610-Quad, version 1 BeadChip in group 1 and Human OmniExpress 12, version 1 BeadChip platform in group 2). Analyses included genotype imputation at the TGFBR3 locus, association analysis of imputed data with correction for population substructure, subsequent meta-analysis of data for groups 1 and 2, and selective genotyping of independent cases (330) and controls (324) for replication.

Cryptorchidism in the orl rat is associated with muscle patterning defects in the fetal gubernaculum and altered hormonal signaling.

Cryptorchidism, or undescended testis, is a common male genital anomaly of unclear etiology. Hormonal stimulation of the developing fetal gubernaculum by testicular androgens and insulin-like 3 (INSL3) is required for testicular descent. In studies of the orl fetal rat, one of several reported strains with inherited cryptorchidism, we studied hormone levels, gene expression in intact and hormone-stimulated gubernaculum, and imaging of the developing cremaster muscle facilitated by a tissue clearing protocol to further characterize development of the orl gubernaculum.