Avian Primordial Germ Cells Are Bipotent for Male or Female Gametogenesis

Overview

Journal Front Cell Dev Biol

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2021 Oct 18

PMID 34660583

Citations 9

Authors

Maeve Ballantyne

Lorna Taylor

Tuanjun Hu

Dominique Meunier

Sunil Nandi

Adrian Sherman

Brenda Flack

John M Henshall

Rachel J Hawken

Mike J McGrew

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In birds, males are the homogametic sex (ZZ) and females are the heterogametic sex (ZW). Here, we investigate the role of chromosomal sex and germ cell competition on avian germ cell differentiation. We recently developed genetically sterile layer cockerels and hens for use as surrogate hosts for primordial germ cell (PGC) transplantation. Using propagated and cryopreserved PGCs from a pedigree Silkie broiler breed, we now demonstrate that sterile surrogate layer hosts injected with same sex PGCs have normal fertility and produced pure breed Silkie broiler offspring when directly mated to each other in Sire Dam Surrogate mating. We found that female sterile hosts carrying chromosomally male (ZZ) PGCs formed functional oocytes and eggs, which gave rise to 100% male offspring after fertilization. Unexpectedly, we also observed that chromosomally female (ZW) PGCs carried by male sterile hosts formed functional spermatozoa and produced viable offspring. These findings demonstrate that avian PGCs are not sexually restricted for functional gamete formation and provide new insights for the cryopreservation of poultry and other bird species using diploid stage germ cells.

Citing Articles

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Major Histocompatibility Complex-B haplotype and ovarian graft response.

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The Transcriptome of Chicken Migratory Primordial Germ Cells Reveals Intrinsic Sex Differences and Expression of Hallmark Germ Cell Genes.

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Development of cryopreservation media for the slow-freezing of cultured primordial germ cells in chicken.

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