Pregnancy-associated changes in expression of progesterone receptor and progesterone-induced blocking factor genes in bone marrow of ewes.

Progesterone (P4) regulates reproductive and immune functions through binding to the progesterone receptor (PGR), and the effects of P4 are partly mediated by a progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF). Bone marrow (BM) is a key component of the lymphatic system and has an important role in immune response. In this study, BM was harvested from femurs on days 13, 16 and 25 of pregnancy and day 16 of the estrous cycles without mated by intact rams, and a qRT-PCR assay, Western blot and an immunohistochemistry analysis were used to analyze the expression of PGR and PIBF genes in BM.

Differential uptake of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic proteins by pea root plastids.

The photosynthetic proteins RuBiSCO, ferredoxin I and ferredoxin NADP(+)-oxidoreductase (pFNR) were efficiently imported into isolated pea chloroplasts but not into pea root plastids. By contrast non-photosynthetic ferredoxin III and heterotrophic FNR (hFNR) were efficiently imported into both isolated chloroplasts and root plastids. Chimeric ferredoxin I/III (transit peptide of ferredoxin I attached to the mature region of ferredoxin III) only imported into chloroplasts.