title: The mechanism for primordial germ-cell migration is conserved between Japanese eel and zebrafish.
abstract: Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are segregated and specified from somatic cells during early development. These cells arise elsewhere and have to migrate across the embryo to reach developing gonadal precursors. Several molecules associated with PGC migration (i.e. dead-end, nanos1, and cxcr4) are highly conserved across phylum boundaries. However, since cell migration is a complicated process that is regulated spatially and temporally by multiple adaptors and signal effectors, the process is unlikely to be explained by these known genes only. Indeed, it has been shown that there are variations in PGC migration pattern during development among teleost species. However, it is still unclear whether the actual mechanism of PGC migration is conserved among species. In this study, we studied the migration of PGCs in Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) embryos and tested the migration mechanism between Japanese eel and zebrafish (Danio rerio) for conservation, by transplanting eel PGCs into zebrafish embryos. The experiments showed that eel PGCs can migrate toward the gonadal region of zebrafish embryos along with endogenous PGCs, even though the migration patterns, behaviors, and settlements of PGCs are somewhat different between these species. Our results demonstrate that the migration mechanism of PGCs during embryonic development is highly conserved between these two distantly related species (belonging to different teleost orders).
authors.affiliation: Nanae Fresh Water Laboratory, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Nanae, Japan. taiju@hokudai-nanae.jp
authors.forename: Taiju
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goto-Kazeto
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Kazuharu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Katsutoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Etsuro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yamaha
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D004524:Eels; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins