Differential expression of conserved germ line markers and delayed segregation of male and female primordial germ cells in a hermaphrodite, the leech helobdella.

ABSTRACT: In sexually reproducing animals, primordial germ cells (PGCs) are often set aside early in embryogenesis, a strategy that minimizes the risk of genomic damage associated with replication and mitosis during the cell cycle. Here, we have used germ line markers (piwi, vasa, and nanos) and microinjected cell lineage tracers to show that PGC specification in the leech genus Helobdella follows a different scenario: in this hermaphrodite, the male and female PGCs segregate from somatic lineages only after more than 20 rounds of zygotic mitosis; the male and female PGCs share the same (mesodermal) cell lineage for 19 rounds of zygotic mitosis. Moreover, while all three markers are expressed in both male and female reproductive tissues of the adult, they are expressed differentially between the mal

SUBMITTER: Cho SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3907050 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature