• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.895-903
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• 2015

Non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the translation of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) involved in the growth and development of a variety of cells, including primordial germ cells (PGCs) which play an essential role in germ cell development. However, the target mRNAs and the regulatory networks influenced by miRNAs in PGCs remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate a novel miRNAs control PGC development through targeting mRNAs involved in various cellular pathways. We reveal the PGC-enriched expression patterns of nine miRNAs, including miR-10b, -18a, -93, -106b, -126-3p, -127, -181a, -181b, and -301, using miRNA expression analysis along with mRNA microarray analysis in PGCs, embryonic gonads, and postnatal testes. These miRNAs are highly expressed in PGCs, as demonstrated by Northern blotting, miRNA in situ hybridization assay, and miRNA qPCR analysis. This integrative study utilizing mRNA microarray analysis and miRNA target prediction demonstrates the regulatory networks through which these miRNAs regulate their potential target genes during PGC development. The elucidated networks of miRNAs disclose a coordinated molecular mechanism by which these miRNAs regulate distinct cellular pathways in PGCs that determine germ cell development.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.385-394
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• 2000

When porcine primordial germ cells (PGCs) isolated from the genital ridge and placed in culture to establish EG cells, a large proportion of PGCs are lost during the early period of culture. To characterize the in vitro death of porcine PGCs, PGCs were cultured in suspension, and apoptosis analyzed using a fluorescent activated cell sorter-based DNA fragmentation assay. The results from flow cytometric analysis showed an increase in apoptosis in cultured cells. However, the cells isolated from the genital ridges are a mixture of PGCs and somatic cells. To detect apoptotic signals specific from porcine PGCs, quantitative TUNEL assay was performed at different time of culture (0 ∼ 24 h). The proportion of apoptotic porcine PGCs determined by double staining with alkaline phosphatase activity and in situ TUNEL assay increased as the time of culture progressed and continued at least 24 h. These results demonstrate that one of the causes of loss of porcine PGCs in vitro is apoptosis.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 1999

In recent years, numerous researches have been carried out in author's laboratory to develop several kinds of methods for producing transgened chicken, leaving a lot of new findings. Some of them are very useful to search for new approaches necessary to improve the efficiency of hatchability and the survival rate of developing trasgened embryos. The results obtained hitherto might be summarized as follows: (1) foreign gene(Lac Z/ Miw Z) introduced into blastodermal cells of developing embryos was successfully transferred to embryos, leading to the production of primordial germ cells(PGCs) carrying foreign DNA. However, hatched hickens failed to show the incorporation of introduced gene into the gonads. (2) When foreign gene was introduced into germinal crescent region (GCR), the gene was also efficiently incorporated into germ cells, resulting in the production of transgened chickens(offspring) which produced fruther offspring having foreign gene in the gonads. In this case, 2nd and 3rd generations of chickens were obtained through the reproduction of transgened birds. (3) In another way, the gene was injected into blood vessels of developing embryos at stage 13∼15, creating PGCs having foreign gene, and produced some transgened chickens. In this work, the PGCs were transfered between embryos, resulting in the production of transgenic chickens. (4) in these experiments, PGCs were effectively employed for producing transgenic birds, developing some kinds of chimeric chickens from homo- or hetero-sexual transfer of the PGCs from embryos. This means that the gonads from donor PGCs developed in some degree to the stage of hatching. However, these gonads showed slightly abnormal tissues similar to ovotestis like organs through histological examination. (5) Avian Leukosis Virus(ALV) induced B cell line(DT40) successfully carried foreign genes into chicken embryos, suggesting the possibility of the cells as a vector in this field of study in the future. (6) Inter-embryonic transfer of the PGCs also gave us some.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.135-142
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• 2001

A novel sterategy has been established to determine the origin of the Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) in avian embryos directly and the developmental fate of the PGCs for the application to Poultry biotechnology. Cells were removed from 1) the centre of area pellucida, 2) the outer of area pellucida and 3) the area opaca of the stage X blastoderm (Eyal-Giladi & Kochav, 1976). When the cells were removed from the centre of area pellucida, the mean number of circulating PGCs in blood was significantly decreased in the embryo at stage 15 (Hamburger & Hamilton, 1951) as compared to intact embryos. When the cells were replenished with donor cells, no reduction in the PGCs number was observed. The removal of cells at the outer of area pellucida or at the area opaca had no effect on the number of PGCs. In case, another set of the manipulated embryos were cultured ex vivo to the hatching and reared to the sexual maturity, the absence of germ cells and degeneration of seminiferous tubules was observed in resulting chickens derived from the blastoderm in which the cells were removed from the centre of the area pellucida. It was concluded that the avian Primordial Germ cells are originated at the center of area pellucida. Developmental ability of the cells to differentiate into somatic cells and germ cells in chimeras were analyzed. Somatic chimerism was detected as black feather attributed from donor cells. Molecular identification by use of female - specific DNA was performed. It was confirmed that the donor cells could be differentiated into chimeric body and erythrocytes. Donor cells retained the ability to differentiate into germline in chimeric gonads. More than 70% of the generated chimeras transmitted donor derived gametes to their offspring indicating that the cells at the center of area pellucida had the high ability to differentiate into germ cells. A molecular technique to identify germline chimerism has been developed by use of gene scan analysis. Strain specific DNA fragments were amplified by the method. It would be greatly contributed for the detection of germline chimerism. Mixed- sex chimeras which contained both male and female cells were produced to investigate the developmental fate of male and female cells in ovary and testes. The sex combinations of donor and recipient of the resulting chimeras were following 4 pairs; (1) chimeras (ZZ/ZZ) produced by a male donor (ZZ) and a male recipient (ZZ), (2) chimeras (ZW/ZW) produced by a female donor (ZW) and a female recipient (ZW), (3) chimeras (ZZ/ZW) Produce by a male donor (ZZ) and a female recipient (ZW), (4) chimeras (ZW/ZZ) produced by a female donor (ZW) and a male recipient (ZZ). It was found that genetically male avian germ cells could differentiate into functional ova and that genetically female germ cells can differentiate into functional spermatozoa in the gonad of the mixed- sex chimeras. An ability for introduction of exogenous DNA into the PGCs from stage X blastoderms were analyzed. Two reporter genes, SV-$\beta$gal and RSV-GFP, were introduced into the PGCs. Expression of bacterial/gal was improved by complexing DNA with liposome detectedcc in 75% of embryos at 3 days embryos. At the embryos incubated for 1 day, expression of the GFP was observed all the embryos. At day 3 of incubation, GFP was detected in about 70% of the manipulated embryos. In case of GFP, expression of the transgene was detected in 30 %e of the manipulated embryos. These results suggested that the cells is one of the most promising vectors for transgenesis. The established strategy should be very powerfull for application to poultry biotechnology.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.471-480
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• 2024

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the regulation relationship of Ten-eleven translocation 1 (Tet1) in DNA demethylation and the proliferation of primordial germ cells (PGCs) in chickens. Methods: siRNA targeting Tet1 was used to transiently knockdown the expression of Tet1 in chicken PGCs, and the genomic DNA methylation status was measured. The proliferation of chicken PGCs was detected by flow cytometry analysis and cell counting kit-8 assay when activation or inhibition of Wnt4/β-catenin signaling pathway. And the level of DNA methylation and hisotne methylation was also tested. Results: Results revealed that knockdown of Tet1 inhibited the proliferation of chicken PGCs and downregulated the mRNA expression of Cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6), as well as pluripotency-associated genes (Nanog, PouV, and Sox2). Flow cytometry analysis confirmed that the population of PGCs in Tet1 knockdown group displayed a significant decrease in the proportion of S and G2 phase cells, which meant that there were less PGCs entered the mitosis process than that of control. Furthermore, Tet1 knockdown delayed the entrance to G1/S phase and this inhibition was rescued by treated with BIO. Consistent with these findings, Wnt/β-catenin signaling was inactivated in Tet1 knockdown PGCs, leading to aberrant proliferation. Further analysis showed that the methylation of the whole genome increased significantly after Tet1 downregulation, while hydroxyl-methylation obviously declined. Meanwhile, the level of H3K27me3 was upregulated and H3K9me2 was downregulated in Tet1 knockdown PGCs, which was achieved by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Conclusion: These results suggested that the self-renewal of chicken PGCs and the maintenance of their characteristics were regulated by Tet1 mediating DNA demethylation through the activation of Wnt4/β-catenin signaling pathway.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.75-77
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• 2000

Retaining migratory activity is a prerequisite for the manipulation and use of PGCs. This study was conducted to examine whether migratory activity is retained in the primordial germ cells(PGCs) from gonads at the later embryonic developmental stage. In the present study, gonads were dissected from 5-, 6- and 10-day-old quail embryos and treated with trypsin-EDTA for the degradation of gonadal tissue. Gonadal PGCs (gPGCs) were purified by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation and labeled with PKH26 fluorescent dye. The PKH26-labeled gPGCs were microinjected into the blood vessels of recipient quail embryo. After further incubation of 3 days, the manipulated recipients were embedded in paraffin and sectioned. The gPGCs were detected by their fluorescence under the fluorescent microscopy and the confocal laser microscopy. As a result, 10-day-old quail gPGCs as well as 5-and 6-day-old gPGCs, could migrate to recipient embryonic gonads and settle down. These results suggest that the 10-day-old gPGCs have the properties of circulating PGCs at early stage. Therefore the PGCs from 10-day old embryonic gonads can be used for the tools of genetic manipulation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.47.1-47
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• 2001

One of the problems associated with in vitro culture of primordial gern cells (PGCs) is the large loss of cells during the initial period of culture. This study characterized the initial loss and determined the effectiveness of two classes of apoptosis inhibitors, protease inhibitors and antioxidants, on the ability of the porcine PGCs to survive in culture. Results from electron microscopic analysis and in situ DNA fragmentation assay indicated that porcine PGCs rapidly undergo apoptosis when placed in culture. Additionally, \ulcorner2-macroglobulin, a protease inhibitor and cytokine carrier, and N-acetylcysteine, an antioxidant, increased the survival of PGCs in vitro. While other protease inhibitors tested did not affect survival of PGCs, all antioxidants tested improved survival of PGCs (p<0.05). Further results indicated that the beneficial effect of the antioxidants was critical only during the initial period of culture. Finally, it was determined that in short-term culture, in the absence of feeder layer, antioxidants could partially replace the effect(s) of growth factors and reduce apoptosis. Collectively, these results indicate that the addition of \ulcorner2-macroglobulin and antioxidatns can increase the number of PGCs in vitro by suppressing apoptosis.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.74-76
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• 2001

Comparing to mammals, male bird has the homozygote ZZ and female has the heterozygote n. Therefore, the sex of fertilized eggs is defined by female chromosome constitution. Although this cytological observation had been established, the molecular and cellular mechanism of germ cell differentiation are essentially unknown in aves. Especially, the differentiation of germ cells in mixed-sex chimeras has not yet been clearly elucidated. Primordial germ cells, which are the progenitors of sperm or egg after sexual maturity, firstly arise in the epiblast and migrate to embryonic gonads through the blood vessel. During the embryo development, these PGCs differentiate in the pathway of mate or female, respectively and develop the sperm or egg cells after sexual maturity. In this paper, we confirmed that the female PGCs could migrate into the recipient male gonads after transferring and differentiate into germ cells in the embryonic stages. The primordial germ cells were isolated from the female embryonic gonads of 5.5-day-old incubation and re-injected into the male recipient embryos of 2-day-old incubation, which produced mixed-sex chimera in the germline. The finding in this study demonstrated the ability of migration and differentiation of gonadal primordial germ cells in mixed-sex chicken.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 2007

This study was conducted to identify optimistic primordial germ cells'(PGCs) migration activity using heat activated busulfan treatment for the increasing germline chimerism. Donar PGCs viability tests of important conditions for useful germ line chimerism indicated approximately $70{\sim}80%$ viability was time dependent. Transplantation experiments of PGCs into recipient embryos after busulfun treatment, showed the treatment group having 23.5% viability. By comparison, the control group showed 4.8% viability. The 96 hour treatment group and the 118 hour treatment group of the cultured PGCs showed high migration activity. Generally, the transplantation method would consider morphological and physiological characteristics before transplantation. In the present study, the effect of busulfan on migration activity showed viability highest at 53.4% after 48-hour incubation time. However, a previous study showed the best condition for transplantation time to be prior to the 48-hour incubation period, when the chicken embryo does not yet have a developed blood vessel system. In conclusion, an important condition for the production of a transgenic chicken is that most donor PGCs migrate into the recipient embryo without any inhibitory factors. The present results suggest, perhaps by using this modified method of transplantation, it can produce a more efficient chimeric germ line, transgenic chicken.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.22-23
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• 2003

Primordial germ cell (PGC) is the progenitor cell of the germ cell lineage and eventually give rise to gametes that are responsible for creating individual organisms via a fertilization process. This means that PGC is a unique cell that can be converted into individual fish. This advantage of PGCs would make it possible to develop various applications in the field of fish bioengineering. First, PGCs may make it easier to preserve the genetic resources of fish. Cryopreservation of fish eggs or embryos has not been successfully achieved so far. Therefore, the only possible method to preserve genetic resources of fishes is to raise fish as live individuals. If PGCs isolated from various fishes could be cryopresewed, these cells could be converted into live fishes via germ-line chimera production. This is particularly useful for preserving genetic materials of endangered species. Even if the species of interest were to become extinct, it could be recovered by the transplantation of cryopreserved PGCs into the embryos of a closely related species. Another application of this technology is in what could be termed "surrogate broodstock technology". (중략)