Dialogue(s) for fertility: deciphering spermatozoa-oviduct interactions and their implications for artificial insemination in dairy cattle

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Around the time of conception, time-specific hormonal changes occur in the oviduct, modulating sperm-maternal interactions, sperm survival and fertilization. Deciphering these hormonal driven interactions will be useful to improve artificial insemination outcome, one major stake in dairy industry. Thus, the objectives of the 3-year DIALOG project are to: 1) better characterize the oviductal secretome in vivo; 2) translate the in vivo oviductal milieu into a refined in vitro model to faithfully mimic the different phases of the estrous cycle; 3) use this model to decipher the regulation of the sperm-oviduct dialogue and the effects of these interactions on sperm physiology; 4) identify mechanisms of sperm-oviduct interactions and molecules that could be used to optimize inseminating conditions in cattle. Jennifer Schoen in Germany and Marie Saint-Dizier in France will coordinate the project. The German applicant is the Reproductive Cell Biology Unit of the Institute of Reproductive Biology at the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN) located in Dummerstorf: this team has a strong expertise in establishing and using highly differentiated oviduct cell culture models. For this project they collaborate with the Junior Research Group Glycobiology and the Cytometry Core Facility of the FBN. The French applicant is the UMR 85 INRA/CNRS/IFCE/Université de Tours Physiology of Reproduction and Behaviors (PRC) located in the Centre INRA Val-de-Loire (Nouzilly). The Cellular Interactions and Fertility (ICF) team in this unit has a strong expertise in analyzing the regulation of the bovine oviduct physiology and will work on this project in collaboration with the Platform for Integrative Analysis of Biomolecules (PAIB). The DIALOG project elucidates cellular and molecular mechanisms crucial for reproductive fitness in cattle, a farm animal of major economic relevance. It furthermore builds the basis for the development of new tools to optimize reproduction management and genetic breeding in this species.