In mammals, primordial germ cells (PGCs), the origin of the germ line, are specified from the epiblast at the posterior region where gastrulation simultaneously occurs, yet the functional relationship between PGC specification and gastrulation remains unclear. Here, we show that Ovol2, a transcription factor conserved across the animal kingdom, balances these major developmental processes by repressing the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) driving gastrulation and the upregulation of genes associated with PGC specification. Ovol2a, a splice variant encoding a repressor domain, directly regulates EMT-related genes and consequently induces re-acquisition of potential pluripotency during PGC specification, whereas Ovol2b, another splice variant missing the repressor domain, directly upregulates genes associated with PGC specification. Taken together, these results elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying allocation of the germ line among epiblast cells differentiating into somatic cells through gastrulation.
Dual role of Ovol2 on the germ cell lineage segregation during gastrulation in mouse embryogenesis
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Award Id(s): 18H05544
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): Takeda Science Foundation
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): Luca Bella Foundation
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): The Open Philanthropy Project
- Funder(s):
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Yuki Naitou, Go Nagamatsu, Nobuhiko Hamazaki, Kenjiro Shirane, Masafumi Hayashi, Makoto Hayashi, Satoru Kobayashi, Katsuhiko Hayashi; Dual role of Ovol2 on the germ cell lineage segregation during gastrulation in mouse embryogenesis. Development 2022; dev.200319. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.200319
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