Post-transcriptional mechanisms in the control of early bovine development.

养牛业每年为加拿大经济贡献超过100亿美元。生育率是限制这一部门生产率的一个主要因素。与其他哺乳动物一样，牛的早期胚胎发育是成功怀孕的关键。从科学的角度来看，对控制胚胎生长和发育的机制的探索为一些最基本的生物学问题提供了迷人的见解，因为它们适用于许多不同的物种。胚胎的生长、发育和存活取决于多种因素，其中最重要的是对基因表达的严格、适时的调控。基因表达可以粗略地定义为在特定时间存在于细胞中的特定基因产物(RNA或蛋白质)的水平。基因表达控制异常的胚胎发育异常或根本无法发育。基因表达的控制是非常复杂的，涉及不同的机制，增加或减少编码特定蛋白质的mRNAs在细胞、组织或生物体中的总水平。这些因素包括改变信使核糖核酸的产生(转录)的因子和改变信使核糖核酸衰变或翻译成蛋白质的速率的因子(转录后变化)。

The cattle industry contributes more than 10 billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy. Fertility is a major factor limiting productivity in this sector. In cattle, as in other mammals, early embryonic development represents a critical point in the establishment of successful pregnancies. From a scientific standpoint, the exploration of mechanisms that control embryonic growth and development provide fascinating insights into some of the most fundamental biological questions as they apply to many different species. Growth, development and viability of the embryo depends on multiple factors, the most important of which is the strict, well-timed regulation of gene expression. Gene expression can be loosely defined as the level of a specific gene product (RNA or protein) that is present in a cell at a particular time. Embryos that have abnormal control of gene expression develop abnormally or fail to develop at all. Control of gene expression is very complicated and involves different mechanisms that increase or decrease the overall levels of mRNAs encoding specific proteins in cells, tissues or organisms. These include factors that change the production of mRNA (transcription) and factors that change the rate of mRNA decay or translation into protein (post-transcriptional changes).