【Animal Experiment】-Shanghai Jiaotong University and others have made new progress in the research of mouse female reproductive stem cells

  Xiaodong Zhao's research group at Shanghai Jiaotong University and Ji Wu's research group at Bio-X Research Institute collaborated and discovered a histone modification tag specific to female reproductive stem cells labeled with enhancers; more importantly, this research revealed DNA methylation As a major epigenetic regulation mechanism, it determines the unipotency of female reproductive stem cells by inhibiting the development of somatic cells, and also participates in the maintenance of their female sex characteristics. At the same time, the researchers also found that the germ cell-related factor PRMT5 also plays an important role in maintaining the undifferentiated state of female reproductive stem cells. Researchers from the School of Biomedical Engineering and Bio-X Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University studied the expression of mouse female reproductive stem cells. Epigenetic modification spectrum and determine the epigenetic regulation mechanism that determines the basic biological characteristics of cells. Find. Published online in the journal Genome Biology.

  Traditionally, oocytes of females and most female mammals are only produced during the fetal period. The number of oocytes does not increase after birth, and decreases year by year. This means that there are no germ cells in the ovaries after birth. Do female mammals have reproductive stem cells? If so, which molecular mechanism determines its pluripotency and undifferentiated stem cell characteristics?

  The Zhao Xiaodong research team of Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Wu Ji team of the Bio-X Research Institute discovered specific histone modification tags with enhancers on female reproductive stem cells; more importantly, this study revealed DNAA. As the main epigenetic regulation mechanism, basicization determines the unipotency of female reproductive stem cells by inhibiting the development of somatic cells, and is also involved in maintaining female sexual characteristics. At the same time, we found that the germline-related factor PRMT5 also plays an important role in maintaining the undifferentiated state of female germline stem cells. To play a role.