Publication Date:
2008-12-17
Description:
Retinoic acid (RA) is an essential extrinsic inducer of meiotic initiation in mammalian germ cells. However, RA acts too widely in mammalian development to account, by itself, for the cell-type and temporal specificity of meiotic initiation. We considered parallels to yeast, in which extrinsic and intrinsic factors combine to restrict meiotic initiation. We demonstrate that, in mouse embryos, extrinsic and intrinsic factors together regulate meiotic initiation. The mouse RNA-binding protein DAZL, which is expressed by postmigratory germ cells, is a key intrinsic factor, enabling those cells to initiate meiosis in response to RA. Within a brief developmental window, Dazl-expressing germ cells in both XX and XY embryos actively acquire the ability to interpret RA as a meiosis-inducing signal.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lin, Yanfeng -- Gill, Mark E -- Koubova, Jana -- Page, David C -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2008 Dec 12;322(5908):1685-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1166340.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Whitehead Institute, and Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19074348" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
;
Animals
;
Cell Cycle Proteins/metabolism
;
Cell Nucleus/ultrastructure
;
DNA Breaks
;
DNA Repair
;
Embryo, Mammalian/*cytology/physiology
;
Endodeoxyribonucleases
;
Esterases/metabolism
;
Female
;
Germ Cells/*cytology
;
Male
;
*Meiosis
;
Mice
;
Mice, Inbred C57BL
;
Nuclear Proteins/genetics/metabolism
;
Ovary/embryology/physiology
;
Phosphoproteins/genetics/metabolism
;
Proteins/metabolism
;
RNA-Binding Proteins/genetics/*physiology
;
Testis/embryology/physiology
;
Tretinoin/pharmacology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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