Nanos function is essential for development and regeneration of planarian germ cells.

ABSTRACT: Germ cells are required for the successful propagation of sexually reproducing species. Understanding the mechanisms by which these cells are specified and how their totipotency is established and maintained has important biomedical and evolutionary implications. Freshwater planarians serve as fascinating models for studying these questions. They can regenerate germ cells from fragments of adult tissues that lack reproductive structures, suggesting that inductive signaling is involved in planarian germ cell specification. To study the development and regeneration of planarian germ cells, we have functionally characterized an ortholog of nanos, a gene required for germ cell development in diverse organisms, from Schmidtea mediterranea. In the hermaphroditic strain of this species, Smed-nano

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1851589 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature