Context
Clinically used endometrial (EM) receptivity assays are based on transcriptomic patterning of biopsies at midsecretory endometrium (MSE) to identify the possible displacement or disruption of window of implantation (WOI) in patients with recurrent implantation failure (RIF). However, biopsies are invasive and cannot be performed in the same cycle with in vitro fertilization embryo transfer, while uterine fluid (UF) analysis is considered minimally invasive and can immediately precede embryo transfer.
Objective
To determine whether UF proteome can be used for WOI monitoring and whether it would highlight the etiology of RIF.
Patients
Paired early secretory endometrial (ESE) and MSE UF samples from six fertile control women for discovery, and an additional 11 paired ESE/MSE samples from controls and 29 MSE samples from RIF patients for validation.
Results
Using discovery mass spectrometry (MS) proteomics we detected 3158 proteins from secretory phase UF of which 367 undergo significant (q < 0.05) proteomic changes while transitioning from ESE to MSE. Forty-five proteins were further validated with targeted MS, and 21 were found to display similar levels between control ESE and RIF MSE, indicating displacement of the WOI. A panel of PGR, NNMT, SLC26A2 and LCN2 demonstrated specificity and sensitivity of 91.7% for distinguishing MSE from ESE samples. The same panel distinguished control MSE samples from RIF MSE with a 91.7% specificity and 96.6% sensitivity.
Conclusion
UF proteins can be used for estimating uterine receptivity with minimal invasiveness. Women with RIF appear to have altered MSE UF profiles that may contribute to their low IVF success rate.
1. Plant populations can exhibit local adaptation to their abiotic environment, such as climate and soil properties, as well as biotic components such as the chemical signatures of dominant plant species and mutualistic and pathogenic microbial populations. While patterns of local adaptation in individual species are widely recorded, the importance of microevolutionary processes for plant community assembly and function is poorly understood.2. Here, we examined how a history of long-term co-existence, and thus potential for local co-adaptation, influenced the process of plant community assembly.Soil inocula and seeds of eight plant species were collected from three calcareous grasslands with a long history of grazing within a single geographical region.Mesocosm communities were established using local genotypes from a single site or an artificial mixture of genotypes from two different sites. To investigate the role of root exudates and local ('home') and non-local ('away') soil biota as mediators of plant species co-existence, the population origin treatment was combined with the addition of activated carbon, which is known to adsorb exudates from soil, and sterilization of soil inocula. Individual-, species-and mesocosm-level responses were measured over the course of three growing seasons.3. We found that root exudates promoted seedling survival, species co-existence and productivity in assemblages of genotypes originating from the same community but had a weak impact in mixed, novel communities. Soil biota promoted the growth of subordinate forbs and restrained the growth of dominant graminoids, particularly in communities composed of local genotypes. The effects of population origin were significant in the first 2 years of the experiment but were not detectable in the third year when interbreeding and new seedling establishment took place. Plant genotypes coupled with 'home' microbial inoculum experienced a stronger reduction in growth compared with genotypes exposed to 'away' inoculum, indicating that plants experienced home-field disadvantage in interactions with soil biota.
Synthesis.Our study demonstrates that the mechanisms of initial grassland community assembly depend on community history, with below-ground chemical 2612 | Journal of Ecology SEMCHENKO Et al.
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