Laboratory of Molecular Genetics for Reproduction, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki 444-8787, Japan.
Science. 2010 Jun 18;328(5985):1561-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1185473. Epub 2010 May 20.
Germline stem cells continually produce sperm in vertebrate testes, whereas there is no direct evidence showing that germline stem cells are present in adult vertebrate ovaries. By using transgenic methods and clonal analysis, we identified germline stem cells that supported oogenesis and the production of offspring in the ovaries of adult medaka fish. Early-stage germ cells were localized in clusters along interwoven threadlike cords of sox9b-expressing somatic cells (termed germinal cradles) where the germ cells developed. Germline stem cells gave rise to germ cells that divided to produce cysts, which then underwent cell death or separated to form follicles. Our results provide insight into the germline stem cell biology of medaka and provide a model system for studying vertebrate stem cell niches.
生殖干细胞在脊椎动物的睾丸中不断产生精子，而没有直接证据表明生殖干细胞存在于成年脊椎动物的卵巢中。通过使用转基因方法和克隆分析，我们在成年斑马鱼的卵巢中鉴定出了支持卵子发生和后代产生的生殖干细胞。早期生殖细胞定位于表达 sox9b 的体细胞交织的线状索中（称为生殖摇篮），生殖细胞在此处发育。生殖干细胞产生分裂产生囊泡的生殖细胞，然后这些囊泡经历细胞死亡或分离形成卵泡。我们的结果为研究斑马鱼生殖干细胞生物学提供了新视角，并为研究脊椎动物干细胞生态位提供了模型系统。
