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Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences: CMLS logoLink to Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences: CMLS
. 1999 Jul;55(8-9):1141–1163. doi: 10.1007/s000180050363

Germline development in vertebrates and invertebrates

E E Saffman 1, P Lasko 1
PMCID: PMC11147032  PMID: 10442094

Abstract.

In all animals information is passed from parent to offspring via the germline, which segregates from the soma early in development and undergoes a complex developmental program to give rise to the adult gametes. Many aspects of germline development have been conserved throughout the animal kingdom. Here we review the unique properties of germ cells, the initial determination of germ cell fates, the maintenance of germ cell identity, the migration of germ cells to the somatic gonadal primordia and the proliferation of germ cells during development in vertebrates and invertebrates. Similarities in germline development in such diverse organisms as Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Xenopus laevis and Mus musculus will be highlighted.

Keywords: Key words. Germline; germ plasm; migration; totipotency; primordial germ cells.

Footnotes

Received 11 December 1998; received after revision 25 January 1999; accepted 25 January 1999


Articles from Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences: CMLS are provided here courtesy of Springer

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