Transcription factor AP2 controls cnidarian germ cell induction
Timothy Q. DuBuc, Christine E. Schnitzler, Eleni Chrysostomou, Emma T McMahon, Febrimarsa Febrimarsa, James M. Gahan, Tara Buggie, Sebastian G. Gornik, Shirley Hanley, Sofia N. Barreira, Paul Gonzalez, Andreas D. Baxevanis, Uri Frank
Abstract
Conserved gene specifies germ cell Germ cells are the exclusive progenitors of gametes. In most studied animals, including humans, germ cells are produced only once during embryogenesis and are not replenished in adult life. DuBuc et al. studied germ cell induction in the clonal cnidarian Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus , an animal that forms germ cells continuously in adult life from stem cells that also generate somatic cells. A single transcription factor is capable of converting the animal's adult stem cells to germ cells. A similar gene also controls germ cell induction in mammalian embryos, but its action there is limited to a single event in early embryogenesis. Science , this issue p. 757