Less is more: specification of the germline by transcriptional repression
Author:
Nakamura Akira1, Seydoux Geraldine2
Affiliation:
1. Laboratory for Germline Development, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology,Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan. 2. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute,Center for Cell Dynamics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Abstract
In animals, the germline is the only lineage that transmits genetic information to the next generation. Although the founder cells of this lineage are specified differently in invertebrates and vertebrates, recent studies have shown that germline specification in C. elegans, Drosophila and mouse depends on the global inhibition of mRNA transcription. Different strategies are used in each organism, but remarkably most target the same two processes: transcriptional elongation and chromatin remodeling. This convergence suggests that a repressed genome is essential to preserve the unique developmental potential of the germline.
Publisher
The Company of Biologists
Subject
Developmental Biology,Molecular Biology
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