A microsurgical grafting technique has been used to introduce primordial germ cell (PGC) precursors into intact primitive-streak-stage mouse embryos in vitro. Operated embryos were cultured for 36-40 h and then analysed by a combined histochemical and autoradiographic method. PGC chimaerism occurred in embryos that received grafts of caudal primitive streak cells but not adjacent embryonic endo...

BACKGROUND Specification of primordial germ cells (PGCs) results in the conversion of pluripotent epiblast cells into monopotent germ cell lineage. Blimp1/Prmt5 complex plays a critical role in the specification and maintenance of the early germ cell lineage. However, PGCs can be induced to dedifferentiate back to a pluripotent state as embryonic germ (EG) cells when exposed to exogenous signal...

Rhox6 is one of the Reproductive Homeobox genes on the X chromosome (Rhox) that is expressed in the placenta and the post-migratory primordial germ cells (PGCs) in the nascent gonad. Despite its novel expression pattern, the significance of Rhox6 expression in the differentiation of these cell types remains unknown. To investigate the role that Rhox6 plays in PGCs, cDNA encoding Rhox6 and short...

In mouse embryos at mid-gestation, primordial germ cells (PGCs) undergo licensing to become gametogenesis-competent cells (GCCs), gaining the capacity for meiotic initiation and sexual differentiation. GCCs then initiate either oogenesis or spermatogenesis in response to gonadal cues. Germ cell licensing has been considered to be a cell-autonomous and gonad-independent event, based on observati...

In animals, specification of the primordial germ cells (PGCs), the stem cells of the germ line, is required to transmit genetic information from one generation to the next. Bucky ball (Buc) is essential for germ plasm (GP) assembly in oocytes, and its overexpression results in excess PGCs in zebrafish embryos. However, the mechanistic basis for the excess PGCs in response to Buc overexpression,...

ABSTRACT In mammals, the pre-gastrula proximal epiblast gives rise to primordial germ cells (PGCs) or somatic precursors in response BMP4 and WNT signaling. Entry into germline requires activation of a naïve-like pluripotency gene regulatory network (GRN). Recent work has shown that suppression OTX2 expression by allows develop PGC fate precise temporal window. However, mechanisms which suppres...

Members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) family play diverse roles in multiple developmental processes. However, in the mouse, mutations in many BMPs, BMP receptors and signaling components result in early embryonic lethality making it difficult to analyze the role of these factors during organogenesis or tissue homeostasis in the adult. To bypass this early lethality, we used an organ c...

As in many other animals, the primordial germ cells (PGCs) in avian and reptile embryos are specified in positions distinct from the positions where they differentiate into sperm and egg. Unlike in other organism however, in these embryos, the PGCs use the vascular system as a vehicle to transport them to the region of the gonad where they exit the blood vessels and reach their target. To deter...

In bilaterian animals, germ cells are specified by the inductive/regulative mode or the predetermined (germ plasm) mode. Among tetrapods, mammals and urodeles use the inductive mode, whereas birds and anurans use the predetermined mode. From histological data it has been predicted that some reptiles including turtles use the inductive mode. Examining turtle oocytes, we find that Dazl RNA, Vasa ...

Mammalian oocytes and spermatozoa derive from fetal cells shared by the sexes. These primordial germ cells (PGCs) migrate to the developing somatic gonad, giving rise to oocytes or spermatozoa. These opposing sexual fates are determined not by the PGCs' own sex chromosome constitution (XX or XY), but by the sexual identity of the fetal gonad that they enter. We asked whether PGCs undergo a deve...