Conceptus elongation in cattle: Genes, models and questions

In ruminants, more than 30% of the embryonic loss observed after artificial insemination has an early origin that is coincident with the marked elongation of the conceptus that occurs before implantation. During this developmental phase, physiological interactions are established between the conceptus and the uterus which are essential for the establishment of pregnancy and the elongation process. Our molecular knowledge of elongating conceptuses in cattle has long been focused on its analysis in view of its interactions with the uterus with the elongating stages being defined, like the uterus stages, by days post insemination or conception. The gene clusters reported so far indicate important pathways, some being shared by the non-elongating conceptuses of other mammals. However, to identify the key components of the elongation process – that could be specific to ungulates – new models are needed. Somatic nuclear transfer could be one of them as it provides complementary insights on differentiation beyond the blastocyst stage. Nonetheless, other models are necessary to convert gene lists or networks in elongating phenotypes. This review partly summarizes information on these topics, but data on the impact of the uterus on the elongation process or on the differentiation of the embryonic tissues are reviewed elsewhere.