Social interactions and relative positions within a dominance hierarchy have helped shape the evolution of reproduction in many animals. Since reproduction is crucial in all animals, and rank typically regulates access to reproductive opportunities, understanding the mechanisms that regulate socially-induced reproductive processes is extremely important. How does position in a dominance hierarc...

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) have the capacity of altering the normal function of the endocrine system. EDCs have shown dramatic effects on the reproductive biology of aquatic wildlife and may affect human reproduction as well. Studies on EDCs in mammalian species have often investigated the effects of short-term, high doses on male and female reproductive physiology. However, it is di...

The human uterus is unique in that it exhibits a tremendous regenerative capacity that enables cyclical regeneration and remodeling throughout a woman's reproductive life. This plasticity of the reproductive system has recently been highlighted. Regeneration and remodeling in the female reproductive tract alludes to the existence of endometrial and myometrial stem cell systems, which has been s...

Most animals reproduce seasonally. They time their reproduction in response to environmental cues, like increasing photoperiod and temperature, which are predictive for the time of high food availability. Although individuals of a population use the same cues, they vary in their onset of reproduction, with some animals reproducing consistently early or late. In avian research, timing of reprodu...

BACKGROUND Honey bees display a complex set of anatomical, physiological, and behavioral traits that correlate with the colony storage of surplus pollen (pollen hoarding). We hypothesize that the association of these traits is a result of pleiotropy in a gene signaling network that was co-opted by natural selection to function in worker division of labor and foraging specialization. By acting o...

Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology • mcb.illinois.edu/departments/mip GREETINGS FROM THE HEAD Milan Bagchi Welcome to the 2015 edition of the MIP newsletter. As you turn its pages, you will come across an article that describes the early history of our department. You will be impressed that physiology has a long and rich tradition at the University of Illinois. The University op...

Reindeer are either wild or kept under very extensive farming systems. They are seasonal breeders, with mating coinciding with the decreasing photoperiod in the autumn, and with calving in the spring. Little is known regarding the factors that influence reproduction in reindeer or of their reproductive physiology. Studies carried out to date have mainly focused on issues related to the populati...

We have entered a new era of genomics in biomedical research with the availability of genome-wide sequences and expression data, resulting in the identification of a huge number of novel reproductive genes. The challenge we are facing today is how to determine the function of those novel and known genes and their roles in normal reproductive physiology, such as gamete production, pregnancy and ...

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDS) span two current areas of sexual selection theory, namely the roles of multiple mating in determining individual reproductive success, and of parasites in mate choice, yet have been relatively neglected in the ecological literature. I reviewed the occurrence of STDS in populations of commercially kept birds and found widespread evidence for the existence of ...