The joint research group of the University of Tsukuba, Hokkaido University, National Institute for Basic Biology, Kansai Medical University, and RIKEN BioResource Center needs a gene called "ovo" for the formation of germ cells in Drosophila and mice. Clarified.
A special cytoplasm called "germ plasm" is distributed at the rear end of the egg immediately after spawning of Drosophila, and the cells that take up this become germ cells, and the cells that do not take up become somatic cells that make up the body of the individual.Until now, it has been said that the germ plasm contains a transcriptional regulatory protein that turns on (activates) genes essential for germ cell formation, but its substance has been unknown.
This time, the protein is an Ovo protein produced from the ovo gene, and the protein is distributed in the nucleus of the cell that has taken up the germ plasm and activates the "gene that is turned on in the germ cell". It was found to inactivate "genes that are turned on in somatic cells".This is because the Ovo protein promotes the cells that have taken up the germ plasm to become germ cells through genetic regulation, but prevents them from becoming somatic cells.In fact, suppressing the action of the Ovo protein in Drosophila results in abnormal germ cell formation.Furthermore, it was found that the function of the ovo gene (ovol2), which has a similar structure, is required for germ cell formation even in mice that are systematically distantly related to Drosophila.
This result suggests that there is a genetic regulatory mechanism common to germ cell formation in many animals.In the future, it is expected that the common principle of germ cell formation will be clarified by elucidating the conservation of genes controlled by Ovo protein in the germ cell formation process of many animals such as mice.
