Germline in Biological News

Xie Lab uncovers molecular machinery related to stem cell fate

... Xie Lab has revealed how the BAM protein affects germline stem cell differentiation and how it is involved ... been known that the BAM protein is necessary for germline stem cell differentiation, but the specific ... for stem cell development in the fruit fly germline are suggested to be translational regulators, but ...

Recruitment of reproductive features into other cell types may underlie extended lifespan in animals

... cells can be considered to be immortal. These germline cells generate their offspring's somatic cells ... and behavior, which have a set lifespan and new germline cells that continue on, generation after ... that allow the 'immortality' of reproductive germline cells. Their report will appear in the journal ...

Eliminating germline lengthens fly lifespan, Brown study shows

... fruit flies live longer when they dont produce germline stem cells the cells that create eggs and sperm. ... San Francisco. Kenyon found that eliminating germline stem cells in roundworms extended their lifespan. ... and Tatar over-activated a gene that controls germline stem cells in flies, a move that eliminated the ...

Stem cell chicken and egg debate moves to unlikely arena: the testes

... factors promoting self-renewal of two neighboring stem cell populations germline stem cells, which become sperm, and SSCs, which develop into a structure ... immature SSCs but their niche support cells," said Voog. By contrast, germline stem cells appeared incapable of generating hub cells. Their study also ...

New route for heredity bypasses DNA

... functions of the cell, such as metabolism. The second, the germline nucleus, like humans' sperm and egg, is home to the DNA needed for sexual ... be reconstituted in their offspring in order for them to survive. The germline nucleus contains abundant DNA, yet 95 percent of it is thrown away during ...

Penn Veterinary Medicine report new strategy to create genetically-modified animals

... Vet, and her colleagues introduced adeno-associated virus, AAV, to male germline stem cells in both goats and mice. The study showed that AAV stably ... approach to germ line genetic modification. It also demonstrates that germline transduction and germ cell transplantation in large animals provides an ...

Stem cell research: From molecular physiology to therapeutic applications

... pES cells generated from immature oocytes in mice exhibit pluripotency resembling fES cells, as evidenced by similarly high chimera production and germline transmission. Thus, immature eggs may provide an efficient source of autologous stem cells for regenerative medicine. This group also tested whether ...

Playing it safe

... Ko and his colleagues wanted to establish clarity from the outset. To this end, they started by culturing a precisely defined type of cell, so-called germline stem cells (GSCs), from the testis of adult mice. In their natural environment, these cells can only do one thing: constantly generate new sperm. ...

CSHL scientists discover how 'companion' cells to sperm protect them from genetic damage

... to ensure that transposons remain inactive. In animals, there is good evidence that epigenetic marks are first wiped clean and then reset in the germline cells such as sperm cells that give rise to the next generation. Martienssen's group has discovered that in plants, however, epigenetic marks ...

Xie Lab characterizes niche control of stem cell function

... a niche. The findings appear in todays issue of Cell Stem Cell. The Xie Lab demonstrated that differentiation-defective Drosophila ovarian germline stem cells (GSCs), behaving like human cancer stem cells, can out-compete normal stem cells for a position in the niche. They do so by invading the ...

New study reveals for first time how BRCA1 mutations cause breast cancer

... similar to BRCA1, a question that only a systematic search can answer, said Dr. Saal. Similar research is underway in tumors from carriers of germline mutations in BRCA2, the other known major breast cancer susceptibility gene, said Dr. Borg. BRCA2 has a role downstream in the same DNA double strand ...

Stowers Institute's Xie Lab demonstrates dual intrinsic and extrinsic control of stem cell aging

... decline in the function of stem cells and their microenvironment, called a niche. In this study, we used Drosophila (fruit fly) ovarian germline stem cells (GSCs) as a model to demonstrate that age-dependent decline in the functions of stem cells and their niche contributes to overall aging of ...

Chimp genome reveals a retroviral invasion

... DNA in either soma (nonreproductive cells) or the germline (sperm or egg). If the virus invades a ... is called endogenous when it invades the germline and gets passed on to offspring. Because ... that the retrovirus had integrated into the germline of African great apes and Old World monkeys -- ...

Cigarette smoke alters DNA in sperm, genetic damage could pass to offspring

... Association for Cancer Research. “Here we are looking at male germline mutations, which are mutations in the DNA of sperm. If inherited, these ... Among the next steps in gaining a better understanding of the germline genetic health conse-quences of smoking, Yauk and her colleagues plan to ...

Scientists resuscitate a 5 million-year-old retrovirus

... (human endogenous retroviruses)--which inserted copies into the human germline millions of years ago. These copies were subsequently passed on from ... retroviral particles that can be observed in some human cancers such as germline tumors and melanomas," says Heidmann. "This work will be helpful in ...

Researchers discover inherited mutation for leukemia

... other CLL families and looking for other predisposing genes. In 2005, other Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers discovered a germline mutation in a gene for a microRNA that is implicated in CLL, suggesting that this may also be a predisposing mutation for the disease. ...

Xie Lab demonstrates the role of microRNA pathway

... Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Xie Lab, have published results showing that the microRNA pathway is essential for controlling self-renewal of germline stem cells and somatic stem cells in the Drosophila ovary. The paper, "Dcr-1 Maintains Drosophila Ovarian Stem Cells," was published on the Web ...

Stem cells engage in dialogue with the cells that regulate their futures

... Too little division results in poor maintenance of tissues, while too much can result in tumors or other malignancies. Her lab used the germline stem cell niche, found in the ovaries of fruit flies, as a model system. The production of fruit fly eggs depends on the presence of a renewable ...

Researchers discover that sheep need retroviruses for reproduction

... to permanently insert their genetic material into the DNA of host cells, he said. During evolution of mammals, some retroviruses infected the germline (cells of the ovary and testis that have genetic material that are passed to their offspring) of the host, which is then inherited by their children. ...

Development of gene therapy

... using a vector ? a kind of vehicle that carries the gene. Somatic gene transfer only targets body cells (somatic cells). Introducing genes into the germline is illegal in Germany. The first well-documented gene therapy studies were launched in the early 1990s. By 2005 it was estimated that more than 1,100 ...

Origen publishes in Nature a robust and versatile method for creating transgenic chickens

... "As well as the practical applications of this work, the ability to engineer PGCs and influence them to commit in cell culture to either the germline or the somatic lineages provides a very useful new tool for understanding some of the earliest and most fundamental events in developmental biology ...

Study finds how organs monitor themselves during early development

... its amount of stem cell precursors, called primordial germ cells (PGCs). Primordial germ cells are important cells. Some of them develop into germline stem cells, which have regenerative powers and others will differentiate into eggs. Signals, sensors, feedback A fruit fly takes ten days ...

Human Eggs Can Develop From Ovarian Surface Cells In Vitro

... mechanism created during the evolution of female reproduction, and not seen in ovaries of female prosimians (ancestral primates) or mice carrying germline stem cells. The ability to produce mature human eggs from adult ovaries in vitro has several potential applications in human reproduction. The ...

Retrovirus struck ancestors of chimpanzees and gorillas millions of years ago, but did not affect ancestral humans

... also caused genetic errors in survivors. Those errors would have later eliminated more of the population." The virus had invaded the genome in the germline -- in sperm or egg cells -- allowing the sequence to be passed on to future generations. In those animals in which the virus was taken up next to or ...