Cadherins are transmembrane proteins that mediate cell–cell adhesion in animals. By
regulating contact formation and stability, cadherins play a crucial role in tissue …

Classic cadherins, which are known to be crucial for homotypic cell—cell adhesion, have
been found to be present not only in vertebrate but also in invertebrate species. Their three …

Germ cells play a unique role in gamete production, heredity and evolution. Therefore, to
understand the mechanisms that specify germ cells is a central challenge in developmental …

Germ cell fate in mice is induced in proximal epiblast cells by the extra-embryonic ectoderm,
and is not acquired through the inheritance of any preformed germ plasm. To determine …

Germ cells may be defined as those cells, all of whose surviving descendants will become
sperm or eggs. In all sexually reproducing animals and plants, these cells play a uniquely …

Previous studies have shown that Oct4 has an essential role in maintaining pluripotency of
cells of the inner cell mass (ICM) and embryonic stem cells. However, Oct4 null homozygous …

Adult neural stem cells are rare, and little is known about their unique characteristics,
leaving their in vivo identity enigmatic. We show that Lewis X (LeX), a carbohydrate …

Oocytes from many invertebrates initiate development within distinctive cysts of
interconnected cells, which are formed through synchronous divisions of a progenitor cell …

We previously reported that primordial germ cells (PGCs) in mice erase genome-wide DNA
methylation and histone H3 lysine9 dimethylation (H3K9me2), and instead acquire high …

In mammals, the final number of oocytes available for reproduction of the next generation is
defined at birth. Establishment of this oocyte pool is essential for fertility. Mammalian …