Drosophila melanogaster Piwi functions within the germline stem cells (GSCs) and the somatic niche to regulate GSC self-renewal and differentiation. How Piwi influences GSCs is largely unknown. We uncovered a genetic interaction between Piwi and c-Fos in the somatic niche that influences GSCs. c-Fos is a proto-oncogene that influences many cell and developmental processes. In wild-type ovarian ...

The two parts of the Caenorhabditis elegans reproductive system, the germ cells and the somatic reproductive tissues, each influence the life span of the animal. Removing the germ cells increases longevity, and this life span extension requires the somatic gonad. Here we show that the somatic gonad and the germ cells make distinct contributions to life span determination. The life span increase...

BACKGROUND The condensed state of the human sperm's chromatin is essential for the compact structure of the spermatozoon head, which is important for the fertilization process. The enzymes DNA topoisomerases (topo I and topo II) are responsible for the topological structure of the chromatin in somatic cells. The activities and the characterization of topoisomerases in mature human sperm cells h...

Lamin A is an inner nuclear membrane protein that maintains nuclear structure integrity, is involved in transcription, DNA damage response and genomic stability, and also links to cell differentiation, senescence, premature aging and associated diseases. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have been successfully generated from various types of cells and used to model human diseases. It remains...

The receptor encoded by the W (c-kit) locus is expressed on the membrane of mouse primordial germ cells, whereas its ligand termed stem cell factor (SCF), encoded by the Sl locus, is expressed on the membrane of somatic cells associated with both the primordial germ cell migratory pathways and homing sites. Using an in vitro short time assay which allows a quantitative measure of adhesion betwe...

In Drosophila embryos, germ cells and somatic cells are formed separately. A recent analysis of the slow as molasses (slam) gene provides a potential link between somatic cell formation and germ cell migration.

Previously, we demonstrated that undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells (hESC) displayed higher resistance to oxidative and genotoxic stress compared to somatic cells, but did not further probe the underlying mechanisms. Using H₂O₂-induced genotoxicity as a model, this study investigated whether higher resistance of hESC to oxidative and genotoxic stress could be due to lower innate basal ...

Segregation of the germline is a fundamental event during early development. In Drosophila, germ cells are specified at the posterior pole of the embryo by the germplasm. As zygotic expression is activated, germ cells remain transcriptionally silent owing to the polar granule component (Pgc), a small peptide present in germ cells. Somatic cells at both the embryonic ends are specified by the to...

Oocytes and their companion somatic cells maintain a close association throughout oogenesis and this association is essential for normal oocyte and follicular developmenL This review summarizes current concepts of the role of the somatic cells in the regulation of mammalian oocyte growth, the maintenance of meiotic arrest, the induction of oocyte maturation, and the acquisition of full embryoni...