Licensing of primordial germ cells for gametogenesis depends on genital ridge signaling.
In mouse embryos at mid-gestation, primordial germ cells (PGCs) undergo licensing to become gametogenesis-competent cells (GCCs), gaining the capacity for meiotic initiation and sexual differentiation. GCCs then initiate either oogenesis or spermatogenesis in response to gonadal cues. Germ cell licensing has been considered to be a cell-autonomous and gonad-independent event, based on observations that some PGCs, having migrated not to the gonad but to the adrenal gland, nonetheless enter meiosis in a time frame parallel to ovarian germ cells -- and do so regardless of the sex of the embryo. Here we test the hypothesis that germ cell licensing is cell-autonomous by examining the fate of PGCs in Gata4 conditional mutant (Gata4 cKO) mouse embryos. Gata4, which is expressed only in somatic cells, is known to be required for genital ridge initiation. PGCs in Gata4 cKO mutants migrated to the area where the genital ridge, the precursor of the gonad, would ordinarily be formed. However, these germ cells did not undergo licensing and instead retained characteristics of PGCs. Our results indicate that licensing is not purely cell-autonomous but is induced by the somatic genital ridge.
Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Yueh-Chiang
YC
Hu
Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Peter K
PK
Nicholls
Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Y Q Shirleen
YQ
Soh
Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Joseph R
JR
Daniele
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Hubrecht Institute-KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Jan Philipp
JP
Junker
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Hubrecht Institute-KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Alexander
A
van Oudenaarden
Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
David C
DC
Page
D000818:Animals; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000378:metabolism; D050991:GATA4 Transcription Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D005718:Gametogenesis; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006066:Gonads / Q000378:metabolism; D008540:Meiosis; D051379:Mice; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
C508515:DAZL protein, mouse; D050991:GATA4 Transcription Factor; C484171:Gata4 protein, mouse; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins