THE USE OF SYNCHRONIZATION OF ESTRUS/OVULATION AND ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION ARE THE MOST POWERFUL TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE, TO BOTH LARGE AND LIMITED RESOURCE PRODUCERS, FOR GENETIC IMPROVEMENT AND REPRODUCTIVE MANAGEMENT. DUE TO THE CONSTRAINTS INVOLVED IN THE LOGISTICS AND TECHNIQUE FOR LIMITED RESOURCE FARMERS, BOTH DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL, IT IS A NECESSITY TO USE TIMED ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION (TAI) IN THE GOAT. THIS PROCESS IS HAMPERED BY THE FREQUENT INCOMPETENCY AND LOSS OF CORPUS LUTEUM (CL) FUNCTION DURING METESTRUS FOLLOWING SYNCHRONIZATION OF ESTRUS/OVULATION, RESULTING IN EARLY EMBRYONIC LOSS. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE MODE OF CL FATE DETERMINATION DURING METESTRUS IN ABNORMAL REGRESSING DAY 5 CL IS DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT THAN THE MODE OF NATURAL FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL LUTEOLYSIS IN THE GOAT DURING LATE DIESTRUS. OUR OBJECTIVE FOR THIS PROJECT IS TO AUGMENT OUR PRELIMINARY WORK IN UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISM THAT IS INVOLVED IN THE DEMISE OF THE CAPRINE CL DURING METESTRUS, AND LEADS TO EARLY EMBRYONIC LOSS. WE, FURTHERMORE, WILL DEVELOP PARAMETERS FOR DETERMINING, AT AN EARLIER STAGE, WHICH PROESTRUS FOLLICLES ARE FATED TO BECOME SUBNORMAL CL THAT REGRESS DURING METESTRUS. THIS DATA WILL PROVIDE OUR LAB WITH METHODOLOGY ALLOWING FUTURE STUDIES TO KNOW WHICH FOLLICLES WILL RESULT IN SUBNORMAL CL. THE STUDY WILL ALSO PROVIDE A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE NORMAL FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL LUTEOLYSIS PROCESS IN THE GOAT. THIS INFORMATION WILL LEAD TO A BETTER SYNCHRONIZATION OF ESTRUS/OVULATION PROTOCOL PERMITTING LIMITED RESOURCE FARMERS TO BETTER USE THE VALUABLE TOOL OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION TO IMPROVE THEIR HERD GENETICS AND LIVELIHOOD.