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Mammalian Germ Cell Development: From in vivo Specification to in vitro Differentiation
Wang Qian, Li Jin, Tang Chao, Zhang Jingjing, Wang Yuan*
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Research, East China Normal University,Shanghai 200241, China
Abstract: Germ cell lineages ensure genetic information through generations， and have great implications in developmental biology， clinical therapy and agriculture. Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the first germ cell population that is segregated from somatic cells during early embryonic development， and are thus the founder cells for all progeny gametes. The specification， migration and differentiation of PGCs is induced by various signaling and strictly controlled through transcriptional regulations and epigenetic modulations. The in vitro culture of germ cell had been established， and recent studies demonstrated the improved differentiation of germ cell lineages from pluripotent stem cells. In this review， we will summarize reports regarding transcriptional regulation and epigenetic modulation of PGC specification as well as in vitro system to derive and to culture germ cells.
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