Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing?
Embryos of many animal models express germ line determinants that suppress transcription and mediate early germ line commitment, which occurs before the somatic cell lineages are established. However, not all animals segregate their germ line in this manner. The ‘last cell standing’ model describes...
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| Format: | Article |
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Company of Biologists
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37066/ |
| _version_ | 1848795385475104768 |
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| author | Johnson, Andrew D. Alberio, Ramiro |
| author_facet | Johnson, Andrew D. Alberio, Ramiro |
| author_sort | Johnson, Andrew D. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Embryos of many animal models express germ line determinants that suppress transcription and mediate early germ line commitment, which occurs before the somatic cell lineages are established. However, not all animals segregate their germ line in this manner. The ‘last cell standing’ model describes primordial germ cell (PGC) development in axolotls, in which PGCs are maintained by an extracellular signalling niche, and germ line commitment occurs after gastrulation. Here, we propose that this ‘stochastic’ mode of PGC specification is conserved in vertebrates, including non-rodent mammals. We postulate that early germ line segregation liberates genetic regulatory networks for somatic development to evolve, and that it therefore emerged repeatedly in the animal kingdom in response to natural selection. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:31:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37066 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:31:15Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Company of Biologists |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-370662020-05-04T17:14:53Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37066/ Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? Johnson, Andrew D. Alberio, Ramiro Embryos of many animal models express germ line determinants that suppress transcription and mediate early germ line commitment, which occurs before the somatic cell lineages are established. However, not all animals segregate their germ line in this manner. The ‘last cell standing’ model describes primordial germ cell (PGC) development in axolotls, in which PGCs are maintained by an extracellular signalling niche, and germ line commitment occurs after gastrulation. Here, we propose that this ‘stochastic’ mode of PGC specification is conserved in vertebrates, including non-rodent mammals. We postulate that early germ line segregation liberates genetic regulatory networks for somatic development to evolve, and that it therefore emerged repeatedly in the animal kingdom in response to natural selection. Company of Biologists 2015-08-18 Article PeerReviewed Johnson, Andrew D. and Alberio, Ramiro (2015) Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? Development, 142 . pp. 2730-2739. ISSN 1477-9129 Amphibian embryo Evolvability Germ plasm Mammalian embryo Pluripotency Primordial germ cell PGC http://dev.biologists.org/content/142/16/2730 doi: 10.1242/dev.113993 doi: 10.1242/dev.113993 |
| spellingShingle | Amphibian embryo Evolvability Germ plasm Mammalian embryo Pluripotency Primordial germ cell PGC Johnson, Andrew D. Alberio, Ramiro Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? |
| title | Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? |
| title_full | Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? |
| title_fullStr | Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? |
| title_short | Primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? |
| title_sort | primordial germ cells: the first cell lineage or the last cells standing? |
| topic | Amphibian embryo Evolvability Germ plasm Mammalian embryo Pluripotency Primordial germ cell PGC |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37066/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37066/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37066/ |