Oct-4: more than just a POUerful marker of the mammalian germline?
Mammals lack visible cytoplasmic components in the oocyte that could account for 'germline determinants' as identified in various non-mammalian species. Actually, mammals might not define the germline autonomously by localized 'germline determinants' but conditionally depending on the position of cells within the embryo. The Oct-4 gene encodes a transcription factor that is specifically expressed in the toti- and pluripotential stem cells of the mouse embryo and so far has only been found in mammalian species. Oct-4-expressing embryonal cell retain the capacity to differentiate along multiple lineages and they have been suggested to be part of a 'totipotent germline cycle' that links one generation to the next.
Brehm
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Gene Expression Programme, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany.
Ovitt
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Schöler
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D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000502:physiology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology*
D015415:Biomarkers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494173:POU5F1 protein, human; C494174:Pou5f1 protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors