Contents

• Reproductive challenges facing the cattle industry at the beginning of the 21st century
• Aspects of reproductive performance in small ruminants - opportunities and challenges
• Enhancing reproductive performance in dairy buffalo: major constraints and achievements
• The main challenges facing camel reproduction research in the 21st Century
• Oocyte-somatic cell communication
• Evaluation of members of the TGFbeta superfamily as candidates for the oocyte factors that control mouse cumulus expansion and steroidogenesis
• Mechanisms regulating follicular development and selection of the dominant follicle
• Germ cell-somatic cell interactions during spermatogenesis
• Morphological assessment of preimplantation embryo quality in cattle
• The use of genomics and proteomics to understand oocyte and early embryo functions in farm animals
• Cloning in livestock agriculture
• Gene expression in the developing embryo and fetus
• Consequences of manipulating gametes and embryos of ruminant species
• Ruminant models of prenatal growth restriction
• Consequences of intra-uterine growth retardation for postnatal growth, metabolism and pathophysiology
• Lives in the balance: responsiveness of the corpus luteum to uterine and embryonic signals
• Follicle growth, corpus luteum function and their effects on embryo development in postpartum dairy cows
• Evolution of the interferon t genes and their promoters, and maternal-trophoblast interactions in control of their expression
• Regulation of embryo survival in cattle
• Stress and the control of LH secretion in the ewe
• Leptin actions on the reproductive neuroendocrine axis in sheep
• Sexually differentiated regulation of GnRH release by gonadal steroid hormones in sheep
• Origin of cerebrospinal fluid melatonin and possible function in the integration of photoperiod
• The role of bone morphogenetic proteins in ovarian function
• Oocyte-derived growth factors and ovulation rate in sheep
• Prolificacy genes in sheep: the French genetic programmes
• Bone morphogenetic proteins and folliculogenesis: lessons from the Booroola mutation
• Regulation of nutrient uptake and metabolism in pre-elongation ruminant embryos
• Fertility in male sheep: modulators of the acute effects of nutrition on the reproductive axis of male sheep
• Interactions between nutrition and ovarian activity in cattle: physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms
• Mechanisms linking nutrition and reproduction in postpartum cows
• Domestic ruminants as models for the elucidation of the mechanisms controlling ovarian follicle development in humans
• Growth and maturation of oocytes in vitro
• The differential secretion of FSH and LH: regulation through genes, feedback and packaging
• Reprogramming the genome: role of the cell cycle
• Gene targeting in livestock
• Overview
• Author index
• Subject index