Journal
NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY
Volume 16, Issue 7, Pages 406-416Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nrm4009
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Funding
- NIGMS NIH HHS [R01 GM113933, P20 GM103423, P20 GM104318, R01 GM034059] Funding Source: Medline
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Germ cells are the special cells in the body that undergo meiosis to generate gametes and subsequently entire new organisms after fertilization, a process that continues generation after generation. Recent studies have expanded our understanding of the factors and mechanisms that specify germ cell fate, including the partitioning of maternally supplied 'germ plasm', inheritance of epigenetic memory and expression of transcription factors crucial for primordial germ cell (PGC) development. Even after PGCs are specified, germ-line fate is labile and thus requires protective mechanisms, such as global transcriptional repression, chromatin state alteration and translation of only germline-appropriate transcripts. Findings from diverse species continue to provide insights into the shared and divergent needs of these special reproductive cells.
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