title: Medaka Oct4 is expressed during early embryo development, and in primordial germ cells and adult gonads.
abstract: Oct4 is a crucial transcription factor for controlling pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and the epiblast of mouse embryos. We have characterized the expression pattern of medaka (Oryzias latipes) Ol-Oct4 during embryonic development and in the adult gonads. Genomic analysis showed that Ol-Oct4 is the ortholog of zebrafish spg/pou2. However, their expression patterns are not the same, suggesting that Oct4 may play different roles in zebrafish and medaka. Using specific antibodies for the Ol-Oct4 protein, we showed that Ol-Oct4 is also expressed in primordial germ cells, in the spermatogonia (male germ stem cells), and during different stages of oocyte development. These results suggest that Ol-Oct4 plays a post-embryonic role in the maturing gonads and gametes. The Ol-Oct4 mRNA and protein expression patterns are similar to those of mammalian Oct4 and introduce medaka fish as a valid model for the functional and evolutionary study of pluripotency genes in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Sánchez
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Camp
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-España
authors.forename: Aránzazu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leal-Tassias
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Mullor
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005260:Female; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D009990:Oryzias / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3