The onset of germ cell migration in the mouse embryo

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Abstract

Mouse primordial germ cells (PGCs) are specified between embryonic day 6.5 (E6.5) and E7.5, when they have been visualized as an alkaline phosphatase-positive (AP+) cell population in the developing allantois. By E8.5, they are embedded in the hind-gut epithelium. Previous experiments have suggested different sites for PGCs' origin, and it is unclear how they reach the gut epithelium. We have used transgenic mice expressing GFP under a truncated Oct4 promoter to visualize living PGCs. We find GFP+/AP+ cells in the posterior end of the primitive streak as a dispersed population of cells actively migrating into the allantois, and directly into the adjacent embryonic endoderm. Time-lapse analysis shows these cells to be actively migratory from the time they exit the primitive streak.

Keywords

Alkaline phosphatase
Allantois
Cell migration
Filopodia
FM4-64
Germline
Green fluorescent protein
Hind-gut
Mouse/murine development
Oct4
Primitive streak
Primordial germ cell
SSEA-1
Time-lapse confocal microscopy

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