Brown Stephen, Zeidler Martin P, Hombría James E Castelli-Gair
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, C.1247 Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, U.K.
Dev Dyn. 2006 Apr;235(4):958-66. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.20709.
The gonad is formed from two populations of cells originating at different locations: the primordial germ cells (PGCs), giving rise to either sperm or oocytes, and the somatic gonadal mesoderm precursors (SGPs), which support development of the gametes. Following the PGCs' migration during gastrulation, these two populations meet, forming the immature gonad. We present evidence that during embryonic development, the PGCs require the canonical JAK/STAT signalling cascade to migrate efficiently towards the SGPs. Loss of function for any element of the JAK/STAT pathway causes frequent germ cell mislocalisation. We have found that wild-type germ cells produce filopodia while they migrate through the mesoderm towards the gonad. Our observations suggest that PGCs use filopodia to migrate and to keep contact with each other. Interestingly, activation of the JAK/STAT pathway is required for these filopodia to form, and ectopic JAK/STAT activation enhances their formation.
原始生殖细胞（PGCs），可产生精子或卵母细胞；以及支持配子发育的体细胞性腺中胚层前体（SGPs）。在原肠胚形成过程中PGCs迁移后，这两类细胞相遇，形成未成熟性腺。我们提供的证据表明，在胚胎发育过程中，PGCs需要经典的JAK/STAT信号级联反应才能有效地向SGPs迁移。JAK/STAT途径中任何元件的功能丧失都会导致生殖细胞频繁定位错误。我们发现野生型生殖细胞在穿过中胚层向性腺迁移时会产生丝状伪足。我们的观察结果表明，PGCs利用丝状伪足进行迁移并相互保持接触。有趣 的是，这些丝状伪足的形成需要JAK/STAT途径的激活，而异位JAK/STAT激活会增强它们的形成。
