title: Identification of a mouse germ cell-less homologue with conserved activity in Drosophila.
abstract: Drosophila Germ cell-less (Gcl) has previously been shown to be important in early events during the formation of pole cells, which are the germ cell precursors in the fly. We have isolated a 524 amino acid mouse gene with 32% identity and 49% similarity to Drosophila gcl, termed mgcl-1. Like Drosophila Gcl, mGcl-1 localizes to the nuclear envelope. Ectopic expression of mgcl-1 in Drosophila rescues the gcl-null phenotype, indicating that mGcl-1 is a functional homologue of Gcl. mgcl-1 maps to chromosome 6 at 47.3 cM, and is expressed at low levels at all embryonic stages examined from 8.5 to 18.5 d.p.c. as well as in many adult tissues. Different from Drosophila gcl, mgcl-1 is not highly expressed at the time the primordial germ cells appear in the mouse, but high mgcl-1 expression is found in selected mouse adult male germ cells. The differences in these expression patterns in light of conserved activity between the two genes is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 422 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia 19104-6069, USA.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Leatherman
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kaestner
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Jongens
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D005854:Germ Cells; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D013347:Subcellular Fractions; D014157:Transcription Factors
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C471550:Gcl protein, mouse; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494174:Pou5f1 protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors; C076187:gcl protein, Drosophila