Shakespeare advises us that some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some
have greatness thrust upon them. So it is with germ cells. In Drosophila, the very first cells to …

Recently, cell signaling has been shown to be required for the formation of germ cells in the
mouse embryo, direct observation of germ cell migration in living mouse embryos has been …

The germ line represents a continuous cellular link between generations and between
species, but the germ cells themselves develop in a specialized, organism-specific context …

In all animals information is passed from parent to offspring via the germline, which
segregates from the soma early in development and undergoes a complex developmental …

The germ cell lineage in the mouse is not predetermined but is established during
gastrulation, in response to signalling molecules acting on a subset of epiblast cells that …

Germ cells and somatic cells have the identical genome. However, unlike the mortal fate of
somatic cells, germ cells have the unique ability to differentiate into gametes that retain …

Germ cells must transmit genetic information across generations, and produce gametes
while also maintaining the potential to form all cell types after fertilization. Preventing the …

Animal germ cells differentiate as sperm or eggs, depending on their sex. Somatic signals
tell germ cells whether they reside in a male or female body, but how do germ cells interpret …

Germ cells are the only cell type capable of generating an entirely new organism. In order to
execute germline-specific functions and to retain the capacity for totipotency, germ cells …

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are embryonic progenitors for the gametes. In the gastrulating
mouse embryo, a small group of cells begin expressing a unique set of genes and so …