Generation of haploid spermatids from chicken embryonal primordial germ cells

Abstract

In vitro production of functional spermatids has special significance in the research of spermatogenesis and the treatment of male infertility. Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the precursors of oocyte and sperm, which generate the totipotent cells. Studies have shown that PGCs have the potential ability to develop meiotic spermatids in vitro. Here we have shown that retinoic acid (RA) leads to PGC differentiation, and SCF can improve the efficiency of induction. We indicate an efficient approach to produce haploid spermatids from chicken PGCs in the presence of RA and stem cell factor (SCF). Real-time RT-PCR assays showed that RA and SCF induced a remarkable increase in expression of SYCP1, ACR, BOULE and DCM1 of meiotic germ cells and haploid germ cells, respectively. DNA content assays revealed that RA and SCF induced a remarkable increase of haploid cells. This study provides a theoretical basis and a great animal model for spermatogenesis study.

Transcriptome Sequencing and Comparative Analysis of Amphoteric ESCs and PGCs in Chicken (Gallus gallus)

“…Compared with gonad tissues at day 4.5, amphoteric PGCs represent lower heterogeneity, suggesting the uninitiated germ cell sex determination. A recent study has demonstrated that the amphoteric chicken PGCs could be induced by spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) or oocytes via co-culture with sertoli cells or granulosa [42][43][44], which showed that PGC sex differentiation could be activated by somatic cells; this may explain different expression patterns of amphoteric gonad tissues with PGCs.…”

Chicken embryo as a model in epigenetic research

“…In chicken PGCs, however, these in vitro goals can be relatively easily reached. For example, Ji et al. (2018) successfully generated haploid spermatids from chicken PGCs.…”