Fig. 6.

Schematic illustrating the current working hypothesis regarding the regulation of miR-302a, miR-456, and miR-181a*. miR181a* prevents chicken PGCs from entering meiosis by downregulating the NR6A1 transcript that triggers the meiosis process in chicken PGCs through RA signaling from gonadal stroma cells. miR181a* also suppresses the somatic differentiation fate in chicken PGCs by silencing the somatic gene expression, including HOXA1. Both miR-302a and miR-456 regulate the pluripotency in chicken blastodermal cells and PGCs by silencing the somatic gene expression, including SOX11.