Timothy Q DuBuc, Christine E Schnitzler, Eleni Chrysostomou, Emma T McMahon, Febrimarsa, James M Gahan, Tara Buggie, Sebastian G Gornik, Shirley Hanley, Sofia N Barreira, Paul Gonzalez, Andreas D Baxevanis, Uri Frank
Clonal animals do not sequester a germ line during embryogenesis. Instead, they have adult stem cells that contribute to somatic tissues or gametes. How germ fate is induced in these animals, and whether this process is related to bilaterian embryonic germline induction, is unknown. We show that transcription factor AP2 (Tfap2), a regulator of mammalian germ lines, acts to commit adult stem cells, known as i-cells, to the germ cell fate in the clonal cnidarian Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus Tfap2 mutants lacked germ cells and gonads...
February 14, 2020: Science