"Germ granules" are cytoplasmic, nonmembrane-bound organelles unique to germline. Germ granules share components with the P bodies and stress granules of somatic cells, but also contain proteins and RNAs uniquely required for germ cell development. In this review, we focus on recent advances in our understanding of germ granule assembly, dynamics, and function. One hypothesis is that germ granu...

research about potential use of stem cells for the development of germ line cells in vitro had been challenged. in the present study, we reported a novel protocol consisting of cocktail growth factor addition for germ cell differentiation followed by transfection. the cells were purificated based on the expression on the cell surface of a protein. this protein is not present in normal cells of ...

BACKGROUND Microenvironment signals play a critical role in directing the differentiation of stem cells. Sertoli cells (SCs) provide a unique microenvironment that is essential for germ cell differentiation. METHODS Our previous study has demonstrated that human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) could differentiate towards male germ cells in vitro, but HUM...

Germ cell apoptosis in testis is essential for functional spermatogenesis. Recent evidence suggests that the Fas signaling system is critical for the regulation of testicular germ cell apoptosis. To further evaluate the Fas signaling system in testis, we examined the incidence of germ cell apoptosis in gld mice that lack a functional Fas-signaling pathway. gld mice have a small, but significant...

The germ line and soma together maintain genetic lineages from generation to generation: the germ line passes genetic information between generations; the soma is the vehicle for germ line transmission, and is shaped by natural selection. The germ line and somatic lineages arise simultaneously in early embryos, but how their development is related depends on how primordial germ cells (PGC) are ...

Primordial germ cell development uses programmed cell death to remove abnormal, misplaced or excess cells. Precise control of this process is essential to maintain the continuity and integrity of the germline, and to prevent germ cells from colonizing locations other than the gonads. Through careful analyses of primordial germ cell distribution in developing Drosophila melanogaster embryos, we ...

In animals, primordial germ cells (PGCs) give rise to the germ lines, the cell lineages that produce sperm and eggs. PGCs form in embryogenesis, typically by one of two modes: a likely ancestral mode wherein germ cells are induced during embryogenesis by cell-cell signaling (induction) or a derived mechanism whereby germ cells are specified by using germ plasm-that is, maternally specified germ...