Mary Gallagher

University College Dublin | UCD

Sialic acid occupies terminal positions on O-glycans of cervical mucins, where they contribute to the increased viscosity of mucin thereby regulating sperm transport. This study characterised the sialylated cervical mucins from follicular phase mucus of six European ewe breeds with known differences in pregnancy rates following cervical artificial...

Mucin glycosylation is the key facilitator of microbial attachment and nutrition and it varies according to biological location, health and disease status, microbiome composition, infection, and multiple other factors. Mucin glycans have also been reported to attenuate pathogen virulence and mediate biofilm dispersal. With the labor intensive and t...

Cervical mucus plays an important role in female fertility, since it allows the entry of motile and morphological normal sperm while preventing the ascent of pathogens from the vagina. The function of cervical mucus is critically linked to its rheological properties that are in turn dictated by O-glycosylated proteins, called mucins. We aimed to ch...

Correction for ‘Examination of oestrus-dependent alterations of bovine cervico-vaginal mucus glycosylation for potential as optimum fertilisation indicators’ by Marie Le Berre et al. , Mol. Omics , 2021, 17, 338–346, DOI: 10.1039/D0MO00193G.

Oestrus is the period in the sexual cycle of female mammals where they become most receptive to mating and are most fertile. Efficient detection of oestrus is a key component in successful reproductive livestock management programmes. Oestrus detection in cattle is most often performed by visual observation, such as mounting behaviour and standing...

In order to combat invading pathogens neutrophils can release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). However, since NETs can also damage endogenous cells, several control mechanisms for the formation of NETs must work effectively. For instance, neutrophil activation is silenced within blood circulation by the binding of sialylated glycoconjugates t...

Identifications different types of Siglecs in animals model mice and rats.

This study was intended to identify the different types of amino acids and whole proteins of the healthy bovine sperm. Two methods applied for characterizing the bovine sperm. Firstly, the whole sperm lysate was extracted and digested and then run in mass spectrometry. Secondly, the total sperm lysate was run in SDS page gel, and then the bands wer...

Sialic acid (Sia) is a major constituent of both the sperm glycocalyx and female reproductive mucosal surface and is involved in regulating sperm migration, uterotubal reservoir formation and oocyte binding. Siglecs (sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin - like lectins) commonly found on immune cells, bind to Sia in a linkage- and sugar-specific manne...

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) are formed against pathogens. However, various diseases are directly linked to this meshwork of DNA. The cytotoxic properties of extracellular histones especially seem to be an important trigger during these diseases. Furthermore, NET accumulation on implants is discussed to result in an impaired efficiency or f...

During the oestrus cycle in cattle, changes in hormone levels lead to changes in the histology of the endometrium. The endometrium is important for blastocyst adhesion and invasion, enabling successful placentation and pregnancy to occur. Changes in endometrial structure around oestrus may also affect sperm transfer through the uterus. Mucus defend...

The Gram-negative bacteria Campylobactor jejuni is the primary bacteria responsible for food poisoning in industrialized countries, and acute diarrheal illness is a leading cause of mortality among children in developing countries. C. jejuni are commensal in chickens. They are particularly abundant in the caecal crypts, and poultry products are com...

The endometrium plays a central role in fertility and pregnancy. It undergoes changes in function and histological morphology over the oestrus cycle, driven by dynamic changes in progesterone and oestrogen. To understand the changes resulting from elevated oestrogen levels around oestrus, we profiled the transcriptome of the bovine uterus. Endometr...

Chronic Th2-driven airway inflammation with excessive mucus production occurs in asthma. The regulation of FUCA1 and FUCA2 gene expression and enzyme activity in response to asthma-associated Th2 cytokines and, for contrast, Th1 cytokine IFN-γ, were investigated in a human airway cell line. BEAS-2B cells were supplemented with Th2-derived cytokines...

Many disorders are characterised by changes in O-glycosylation, but analysis of O-glycosylation has been limited by the availability of specific endo- and exo-glycosidases. As a result chemical methods are employed. However, these may give rise to glycan degradation, so therefore novel O-glycosidases are needed. Artificial substrates do not always...

Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni colonize the stomach and intestinal mucus, respectively. Using a combination of mucus-secreting cells, purified mucins, and a novel mucin microarray platform, we examined the interactions of these two organisms with mucus and mucins. H. pylori and C. jejuni bound to distinctly different mucins. C. jejuni...

In the equine reproductive tract, little is known about mucin gene expression and the role of mucins in barrier function and host-cell interaction. The aims of the study were to identify equine orthologs of mammalian mucin genes using available equine sequence data, to profile expression of equine orthologous mucin genes in the endometrium using re...

Mucins are the principal components of mucus, and mucin glycosylation has important roles in defense, microbial adhesion, immunomodulation, inflammation, and cancer. Mucin expression and glycosylation are dynamic, responding to changes in local environment and disease. Potentially hundreds of heterogeneous glycans can substitute one mucin molecule,...

Sulfated glycolipids (SGs) and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) present on the surface of colonic, vaginal epithelial and neuroglial cells bind to HIV GP120, suggesting that these glycoconjugates may have a role in HIV infection. The main goal of this work was to test the ability of the human milk glycoconjugates (SGs and GAGs) to inhibit the infection of...

The cervix and its secretions undergo biochemical and physical changes under the differential influences of estrogen and progesterone. These include changes in the glycoprotein profile of the endocervix and its secretions. A comprehensive survey of such changes in cervical epithelium and cervical secretions was performed on bovine samples throughou...

Cervical mucus is thin and watery at oestrus when transcervical sperm transit takes place. During the luteal phase of the cycle, and in pregnancy, the mucus becomes less watery and more viscoelastic, forming a plug in the cervical canal which assists in maintaining a competent barrier between the vaginal and uterine lumens. The transition between t...

Campylobacter jejuni is a major causative agent of diarrhoeal disease worldwide in the human population. In contrast, heavy colonization of poultry typically does not lead to disease and colonized chickens are a major source of Campylobacter infections in humans. Previously, we have shown that chicken (but not human) intestinal mucus inhibits C. je...