Vertebrate female germline-the acquisition of femaleness

The cellular and molecular characteristics of female germ cells have primarily been studied in the mammalian ovary. In most female mammals, all primordial germ cells (PGCs) develop into oocytes early during ovary formation, and germline stem cells are few in number or absent in postnatal ovaries (Le...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Developmental biology 2014-05, Vol.3 (3), p.231-238
Main Author: Tanaka, Minoru
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Chromosomes
Conflicts of interest
Embryo cells
Embryogenesis
Female
Follicles
Gametogenesis
Germ cells
Germ Cells - cytology
Germ Cells - physiology
Mammals
Meiosis
Molecular modelling
Mutation
Oocytes
Oogenesis
Oryzias latipes
Ovaries
Ovary - anatomy & histology
Ovary - cytology
Ovum - cytology
Rodents
Sex Determination Processes
Somatic cells
Stem cell transplantation
Stem cells
Stem Cells - cytology
Teleostei
Vertebrates - physiology
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Summary:The cellular and molecular characteristics of female germ cells have primarily been studied in the mammalian ovary. In most female mammals, all primordial germ cells (PGCs) develop into oocytes early during ovary formation, and germline stem cells are few in number or absent in postnatal ovaries (Lei L, Spradling AC. Female mice lack adult germ‐line stem cells but sustain oogenesis using stable primordial follicles. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2013, 110:8585–8590). Research efforts in the field have largely focused on meiosis and follicular development, but a fundamental question regarding establishment of femaleness, which is very important to understand the ‘female’ germline, has not been discussed sufficiently. Recent work has revealed the presence of germline stem cells in the vertebrate ovary, using the teleost fish, medaka (Oryzias latipes) (Nakamura S, Kobayashi K, Nishimura T, Higashijima S, Tanaka, M. Identification of germline stem cells in the ovary of teleost medaka. Science 2010, 328:1561–1563). This discovery allows direct comparison between female and male germline stem cells and raises an interesting and heretofore unaddressed issue regarding femaleness of germline stem cells. In this article, the germ cell behavior in the ovaries of different species is reviewed and compared, the molecular mechanisms underlying the generation of female germ cells are discussed, and the relationship between female germ cells and the surrounding somatic cells is examined. This article is categorized under: Early Embryonic Development > Gametogenesis Adult Stem Cells, Tissue Renewal, and Regeneration > Tissue Stem Cells and Niches Comparative Development and Evolution > Organ System Comparisons Between Species
ISSN:1759-7684
1759-7692
DOI:10.1002/wdev.131