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Science 29 August 2003:
Vol. 301. no. 5637, pp. 1239 - 1241
DOI: 10.1126/science.1085222
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Reports

Conserved Role of nanos Proteins in Germ Cell Development

Masayuki Tsuda,1,2* Yumiko Sasaoka,1* Makoto Kiso,1 Kuniya Abe,3 Seiki Haraguchi,4 Satoru Kobayashi,2,5 Yumiko Saga1,2{dagger}

In Drosophila, maternally supplied Nanos functions in the migration of primordial germ cells (PGCs) into the gonad; in mice, zygotic genes are involved instead. We report the cloning and the functional analyses of nanos2 and nanos3 in mice. These genes are differentially expressed in mouse PGCs. nanos2 is predominantly expressed in male germ cells, and the elimination of this gene results in a complete loss of spermatogonia. However, nanos3 is found in migrating PGCs, and the elimination of this factor results in the complete loss of germ cells in both sexes. Hence, although mice and flies differ in their mechanisms for germ cell specification, there seems to be conserved function for nanos proteins among invertebrates and vertebrates.

1 Division of Mammalian Development, National Institute of Genetics, SOKENDAI, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan. 2 Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Corporation, 2-6-15, Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011, Japan. 3 RIKEN, Bio-Resource Center, 3-1-1 Koyadai, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan. 4 Department of Microbiology, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta, Otsu-shi, Shiga 520-2192, Japan. 5 Center for Integrative Bioscience, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki National Research Institute, Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.



* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ysaga{at}lab.nig.ac.jp

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