Tsuda Masayuki, Sasaoka Yumiko, Kiso Makoto, Abe Kuniya, Haraguchi Seiki, Kobayashi Satoru, Saga Yumiko
Division of Mammalian Development, National Institute of Genetics, SOKENDAI, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
Science. 2003 Aug 29;301(5637):1239-41. doi: 10.1126/science.1085222.
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.
在果蝇中，由母体提供的Nanos在原始生殖细胞（PGC）向性腺的迁移中发挥作用；而在小鼠中，则涉及合子基因。我们报告了小鼠中nanos2和nanos3的克隆及功能分析。这些基因在小鼠PGC中差异表达。nanos2主要在雄性生殖细胞中表达，该基因的缺失会导致精原细胞完全丧失。然而，nanos3存在于迁移的PGC中，该因子的缺失会导致两性生殖细胞完全丧失。因此，尽管小鼠和果蝇在生殖细胞特化机制上存在差异，但nanos蛋白在无脊椎动物和脊椎动物中似乎具有保守功能。
