Primordial germ cell

During pregnancy, germline development is vital for maintaining the continuation of species. Recent studies have shown increased pregnancy risks in COVID-19 patients at the perinatal stage. However, the potential consequence of infection for reproductive quality in developing fetuses remains unclear. Here, we analyze the transcriptome and DNA methylome of the fetal germline following maternal severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. We find that infection at early gestational age, a critical period of human primordial germ cell specification and epigenetic reprogramming, trivially affects fetal germ cell (FGC) development...

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the precursors of germ cells and play a crucial role in germline transmission. In chickens, PGCs can be cultured in vitro while maintaining their germline stem cell characteristics. The Deleted in Azoospermia-Like (DAZL) gene, which is highly expressed in PGCs, is essential for germ cell development. Here, through gene knockout experiments, we discovered that the loss of DAZL expression in chicken PGCs led to decreased proliferation and survival. By next employed techniques such as RIP-seq (RNA Binding Protein Immunoprecipitation) and Co-IP-MS/MS (Co-immunoprecipitation Mass Spectrometry), we identified genes directly regulated by DAZL or cooperating with DAZL at the transcriptomic and proteomic levels...

During Drosophila oogenesis, the Oskar (OSK) RNA binding protein (RBP) determines the amount of germ plasm that assembles at the posterior pole of the oocyte. Here, we identify mechanisms that subsequently regulate germ plasm assembly in the early embryo. We show that the Smaug (SMG) RBP is transported into the germ plasm of the early embryo where it accumulates in the germ granules. SMG binds to and represses translation of the osk messenger RNA (mRNA) as well as the bruno 1 ( bru1 ) mRNA, which encodes an RBP that we show promotes germ plasm production...

The germline provides the genetic and non-genetic information that passes from one generation to the next. Given this important role in species propagation, egg and sperm precursors, called primordial germ cells (PGCs), are one of the first cell types specified during embryogenesis. In fact, PGCs form well before the bipotential somatic gonad is specified. This common feature of germline development necessitates that PGCs migrate through many tissues to reach the somatic gonad. During their journey, PGCs must respond to select environmental cues while ignoring others in a dynamically developing embryo...

During embryonic development, pluripotent cells assume specialized identities by adopting particular gene expression profiles. However, systematically dissecting the relative contributions of mRNA transcription and degradation to shaping those profiles remains challenging, especially within embryos with diverse cellular identities. Here, we combine single-cell RNA-Seq and metabolic labeling to capture temporal cellular transcriptomes of zebrafish embryos where newly-transcribed (zygotic) and pre-existing (maternal) mRNA can be distinguished...

How animal embryos determine their early cell fates is an important question in developmental biology. In various model animals asymmetrically localized maternal transcripts play important roles in axial patterning and cell fate specification. Cephalochordates (amphioxus), which have three living genera (Asymmetron, Epigonichthys, Branchiostoma), are an early branching chordate lineage and thus occupy a key phylogenetic position for understanding the evolution of chordate developmental mechanisms. It has been shown that in the zygote of Brachiostoma amphioxus, which possess bilateral gonads flanking both sides of their trunk region, maternal transcripts of germline determinants form a compact granule...

Bisphenol S (BPS) is an emerging environmental endocrine disruptor capable of crossing the placental barrier, resulting in widespread exposure to pregnant women due to its extensive usage. However, the impact of perinatal maternal exposure to BPS on reproductive health in offspring and the underlying molecular mechanism remain underexplored. In this study, gestational ICR mice were provided with drinking water containing 3.33 mg/L BPS to mimic possible human exposure in some countries. Results demonstrated that BPS accelerated the breakdown of germ-cell cysts and the assembly of primordial follicles in neonates, leading to oocyte over-loss...

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide DNA demethylation occurs in mammalian primordial germ cells (PGCs) as part of the epigenetic reprogramming important for gametogenesis and resetting the epigenetic information for totipotency. Dppa3 (also known as Stella or Pgc7) is highly expressed in mouse PGCs and oocytes and encodes a factor essential for female fertility. It prevents excessive DNA methylation in oocytes and ensures proper gene expression in preimplantation embryos: however, its role in PGCs is largely unexplored...

Hyaluronic acid (HA) plays a prominent role in various aspects of reproductive biology and assisted reproductive technologies (ART). This review describes the multifaceted influence of HA, ranging from primordial germ cell migration, ovarian follicle development, and ovulation in females to sperm structure, physiology, motility, and capacitation in males. In addition, HA also plays an important role in fertilization and promotes embryo implantation by mediating cellular adhesion and communication within the uterus...

Ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes iteratively oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to generate 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine, and 5-carboxylcytosine to facilitate active genome demethylation. Whether these bases are required to promote replication-coupled dilution or activate base excision repair during mammalian germline reprogramming remains unresolved due to the inability to decouple TET activities. Here, we generated two mouse lines expressing catalytically inactive TET1 (Tet1-HxD) and TET1 that stalls oxidation at 5hmC (Tet1-V)...

Previously, we found that the ultraviolet filter benzophenone-3 (BP3) causes fetal growth restriction in mice when is applied when implantation occurs (first week of gestation). However, whether BP3 can affect gestation and fertility after implantation period is unknown. We aimed to study the effects on reproductive physiology of the offspring caused by perinatal exposure to BP3. C57BL/6 pregnant mice were dermally exposed to 50 mg BP3/kg bw.day or olive oil (vehicle) from gestation day 9 (gd9) to postnatal day 21 (pnd1)...

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the ancestors of female and male germ cells. Recent studies have shown that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and histone methylation are key epigenetic factors affecting PGC formation; however, their joint regulatory mechanisms have rarely been studied. Here, we explored the mechanism by which lncCPSET1 and H3K4me2 synergistically regulate the formation of chicken PGCs for the first time. Combined with chromatin immunoprecipitation (CHIP) sequencing and RNA-seq of PGCs transfected with the lncCPSET1 overexpression vector, GO annotation and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that Wnt and TGF-β signaling pathways were significantly enriched, and Fzd2, Id1, Id4, and Bmp4 were identified as candidate genes...

While transgenerational epigenetic inheritance has been extensively documented in plants, nematodes, and fruit flies, its existence in mammals remains controversial. Several factors have contributed to this debate, including the lack of a clear distinction between intergenerational and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI), the inconsistency of some studies, the potential confounding effects of in-utero vs. epigenetic factors, and, most importantly, the biological challenge of epigenetic reprogramming...

The current WHO classification of testicular germ cell tumors is based on the pathogenesis of the tumors driven by different genomic events. The germ cell neoplasia in situ is the precursor lesion for all malignant germ cell tumors. The current understanding of pathogenesis is that the developmental and environmental factors with the erasure of parental genomic imprinting lead to the development of abnormal gonocytes that settle in the "spermatogonial Niche" in seminiferous tubules. The abnormal primordial germ cells in the seminiferous tubules give rise to pre-GCNIS cells under the influence of TPSY and OCT4 genes...

The transcription factor FOXL2 is required in ovarian somatic cells for female fertility. Differential timing of Foxl2 deletion, in embryonic versus adult mouse ovary, leads to distinctive outcomes, suggesting different roles across development. Here, we comprehensively investigated FOXL2's role through a multi-omics approach to characterize gene expression dynamics and chromatin accessibility changes, coupled with genome-wide identification of FOXL2 targets and on-chromatin interacting partners in somatic cells across ovarian development...

BACKGROUND: The mammalian ovary is a unique organ that displays a distinctive feature of cyclic changes throughout the entire reproductive period. The estrous/menstrual cycles are associated with drastic functional and morphological rearrangements of ovarian tissue, including follicular development and degeneration, and the formation and subsequent atrophy of the corpus luteum. The flawless execution of these reiterative processes is impossible without the involvement of programmed cell death (PCD)...

Fenvalerate (FEN), a type II pyrethroid pesticide, finds extensive application in agriculture, graziery and public spaces for pest control, resulting in severe environmental pollution. As an environmental endocrine disruptor with estrogen-like activity, exposure to FEN exhibited adverse effects on ovarian functions. Additionally, the presence of the metabolite of FEN in women's urine shows a positive association with the risk of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). In mammals, the primordial follicle pool established during the early life serves as a reservoir for storing all available oocytes throughout the female reproductive life...

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the embryonic precursors of sperm and oocytes, which transmit genetic/epigenetic information across generations. Mouse PGC and subsequent gamete development can be fully reconstituted in vitro, opening up new avenues for germ cell studies in biomedical research. However, PGCs show molecular differences between rodents and humans. Therefore, to establish an in vitro system that is closely related to humans, we studied PGC development in vivo and in vitro in the common marmoset monkey Callithrix jacchus ( cj )...

The mammalian genome undergoes two global epigenetic reprogramming events during the establishment of primordial germ cells and in the pre-implantation embryo after fertilization. These events involve the erasure and re-establishment of DNA methylation marks. However, imprinted genes and transposable elements (TEs) maintain their DNA methylation signatures to ensure normal embryonic development and genome stability. Despite extensive research in mice and humans, there is limited knowledge regarding environmentally induced epigenetic marks that escape epigenetic reprogramming in other species...

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a common reproductive aging disorder due to a dramatic decline of ovarian function before 40 years of age. Accumulating evidence reveals that genetic defects, particularly those related to DNA damage response, are a crucial contributing factor to POI. We have demonstrated that the functional Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway maintains the rapid proliferation of primordial germ cells to establish a sufficient reproductive reserve by counteracting replication stress, but the clinical implications of this function in human ovarian function remain to be established...