Table 1.

List of pluripotency, oocyte, germ cell, meiosis, primordial germ cell granulosa and theca cell-specific markers along with their functions. All of these markers have specific roles at various developmental stages.

Category	Name of Gene	Function
Pluripotency marker	Oct4	Regulates pluripotency and also acts as germ cell marker.
	Nanog	Maintains pluripotency.
	Sox2	Maintains pluripotency.
	Rex	Maintains pluripotent state.
	Ssea4	Regulates the pre-implantation development and pluripotency of human embryonic stem cells.
Oocyte-specific marker	Gdf9	Oocyte maturation marker.
	C-Mos	Oocyte maturation factor Mos.
	Zpc	Contributes to the structural integrity of oocyte and its coat.
	Stella	Involved in Chromosomal organization or RNA processing.
Germ cell-specific marker	Dazl	Primordial germ cell migration, germ stem cell proliferation differentiation, Suppresses pluripotency markers expression.
	Vasa	Germ cell determination and oocyte development.
	Blimp1	Master regulator of the foundation of the germ cell lineage and primordial germ cell formation.
	Fragilis	Thought to be involved in the initiation of homeobox genes repression in the early germ cell precursors, and pluripotency maintenance.
Meiosis-specific marker	Dmc1	Essential for meiotic recombination and meiosis regulation.
	Scp (1,2,3)	Synaptonemal complex protein (1,2,3) are required for normal centromere pairing, chromosomal synapsis during male and female germ cell development, important meiosis marker.
	Rec8	Meiotic recombination protein which participate in meiotic process (meiotic cohesion complex, sister chromatid cohesion and homologous chromosome recombination).
	Stra8	Regulation of meiotic initiation in both spermatogenesis and oogenesis.
Primordial germ cell marker	Prdm1/Blimp-1	Repress beta-interferon gene expression, plays critical role in primordial germ cells and germ cell formation.
	Prdm14	Maintain pluripotency and suppress the expression of differentiation marker genes, helps in primordial germ cell formation.
	Dppa3	Developmental pluripotency-associated protein 3 participate in epigenetic chromatin reprogramming, prevent 5mC to conversion (DNA methylation protection), the condensation of chromatin during oocytogenesis.
	Dnd1	Survival of primordial germ cells, germ cell tumor suppression in mice, apoptosis suppression.
	Nanos3	Maintain undifferentiated germ cell state, participate in human germ cell development, apoptosis suppression.
	Tcfap2c/Ap2-γ	Placenta development, primordial germ cell maintenance.
Granulosa cell marker	Foxl2	Important for ovarian development and function, granulosa cell differentiation marker, support pre-ovulatory follicles growth.
	Amh	TGF-β family member, help in the proliferation of mitotically active germ cell, folliculogenesis regulation, molecule biomarker for ovarian reserve and menopause timing.
	FshR	Expressed by granulosa cell, necessary follicular development, controls the growth and maturation of spermatogenesis and follicle formation.
	CYP19A1	Helps in estrogen biosynthesis.
Theca cell marker	LHR	Helps in follicular maturation, ovulation and luteal function.