Signaling for germ cells

Signaling for germ cells.

Shakespeare advises us that some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. So it is with germ cells. In Drosophila, the very first cells to be formed in the embryo, the pole cells, are germ cells whose descendants have no fate other than to give rise to gametes. In Caenorhabditis and in zebra fish, germ cell determinants present in the egg are asymmet...

A vector-based system for the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells toward germ-line cells

Objective(s):To culture thein vitro mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and to direct their  differentiation to germ-line cells; in present study we used a vector backbone containing the fusion construct Stra8-EGFP to select differentiated ES cells that entered meiosis.  Retinoic acid was used to differentiate embryonic stem cells to germ cells. Materials and Methods: A fragment of Stra8 gene pr...

AKT signaling promotes derivation of embryonic germ cells from primordial germ cells.

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are embryonic germ cell precursors. Although the developmental potency of PGCs is restricted to the germ lineage, PGCs can acquire pluripotency, as verified by the in vitro establishment of embryonic germ (EG) cells and the in vivo production of testicular teratomas. PGC-specific inactivation of PTEN, which is a lipid phosphatase antagonizing phosphoinositide-3 kina...

The Role of Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Pathway in Rat Primordial Germ Cells Reprogramming and Induction into Pluripotent State

 Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) are unipotent precursors of the gametes. PGCs can give rise to a type of pluripotent stem cells in vitro that are called embryonic germ (EG) cells. PGCs can also acquire such pluripotency in vivo and generate teratomas. Under specific culture conditions, PGCs can be reprogrammed to embryonic germ cells which are capable of expression of key pluripotency marker...

Signaling pathways in the development of female germ cells