• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.197-202
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• 1996

A pollen-specific cDNA clone, LMP50, was isolated from the mature pollen cDNA library of the Easter lily. The LMP50 transcript was highly abundant in mture pollen grains but not detectable in other organs. The LMP50 cDNA clone contains 1383 nucleotides and two open reading frames. The first codes for a peptide of 15 amino acid residues. The role of this peptide is nuclear. The second encodes a protein containing 329 amino acid residues. This protein exhibited a significant homology to human tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and porcine uteroferrin. Both of these enzymes have been suggested to play a role in iron transport. Therefore, LMP50 may act as an iron carrier protein in mature pollen grains.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1708-1714
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• 2005

Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) functions in epithelial growth and differentiation in many tissues and organs. KGF is expressed in the uterine endometrial epithelial cells during the estrous cycle and pregnancy in pigs, and receptors for KGF (KGFR) are expressed by conceptus trophectoderm and endometrial epithelia. KGF has been shown to stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of conceptus trophectoderm. However, the role of KGF on the endometrial epithelial cells has not been determined. Therefore, this study determined the effect of KGF on proliferation and differentiation of endometrial epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo using an immortalized porcine luminal epithelial (pLE) cell line and KGF infusion into the uterine lumen of pigs between Days 9 and 12 of estrous cycle. Results showed that KGF did not stimulate proliferation of uterine endometrial epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo determined by the $^3$H]thymidine incorporation assay and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen staining, respectively. Effects of KGF on expression of several markers for epithelial cell differentiation, including integrin receptor subunits $\alpha$4, $\alpha$5 and $\beta$1, plasmin/trypsin inhibitor, uteroferrin and retinol-binding protein were determined by RT-PCR, Northern and slot blot analyses, and immunohistochemisty, and KGF did not affect epithelial cell differentiation in vitro and in vivo. These results show that KGF does not induce epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation, suggesting that KGF produced by endometrial epithelial cells acts on conceptus trophectoderm in a paracrine manner rather than on endometrial epithelial cells in an autocrine manner.