|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
First published online 3 August 2006
doi: 10.1242/dev.02500
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, PO Box 100266, University
of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0266, USA.
2 Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Cell and Developmental
Biology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
19104, USA.
3 Epigenetics Program, Models of Disease Center, Novartis Institute for
Biomedical Research, 250 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: resnick{at}mgm.ufl.edu)
Accepted 19 June 2006
DNA methylation is necessary for the silencing of endogenous retrotransposons and the maintenance of monoallelic gene expression at imprinted loci and on the X chromosome. Dynamic changes in DNA methylation occur during the initial stages of primordial germ cell development; however, all consequences of this epigenetic reprogramming are not understood. DNA demethylation in postmigratory primordial germ cells coincides with erasure of genomic imprints and reactivation of the inactive X chromosome, as well as ongoing germ cell differentiation events. To investigate a possible role for DNA methylation changes in germ cell differentiation, we have studied several marker genes that initiate expression at this time. Here, we show that the postmigratory germ cell-specific genes Mvh, Dazl and Scp3 are demethylated in germ cells, but not in somatic cells. Premature loss of genomic methylation in Dnmt1 mutant embryos leads to early expression of these genes as well as GCNA1, a widely used germ cell marker. In addition, GCNA1 is ectopically expressed by somatic cells in Dnmt1 mutants. These results provide in vivo evidence that postmigratory germ cell-specific genes are silenced by DNA methylation in both premigratory germ cells and somatic cells. This is the first example of ectopic gene activation in Dnmt1 mutant mice and suggests that dynamic changes in DNA methylation regulate tissue-specific gene expression of a set of primordial germ cell-specific genes.
Key words: Mouse, Primordial germ cells
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  C. Maeda, S. Sato, N. Hattori, S. Tanaka, S. Yagi, and K. Shiota DNA Hypomethylation Circuit of the Mouse Oocyte-Specific Histone H1foo Gene in Female Germ Cell Lineage Biol Reprod, May 1, 2008; 78(5): 816 - 821. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. S. Dunican, A. Ruzov, J. A. Hackett, and R. R. Meehan xDnmt1 regulates transcriptional silencing in pre-MBT Xenopus embryos independently of its catalytic function Development, April 1, 2008; 135(7): 1295 - 1302. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Y. Jiang, J. Jiang, J. Xiong, J. Cao, N. Li, G. Li, and S. Wang Homocysteine-induced extracellular superoxide dismutase and its epigenetic mechanisms in monocytes J. Exp. Biol., March 15, 2008; 211(6): 911 - 920. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. C. Nagano In Vitro Gamete Derivation from Pluripotent Stem Cells: Progress and Perspective Biol Reprod, April 1, 2007; 76(4): 546 - 551. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. McGraw, C. Vigneault, and M.-A. Sirard Temporal expression of factors involved in chromatin remodeling and in gene regulation during early bovine in vitro embryo development Reproduction, March 1, 2007; 133(3): 597 - 608. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
