PUBLICATION

Isolation of teleost primordial germ cells using flow cytometry

Authors
Goto-Kazeto, R., Saito, T., Takagi, M., Arai, K., and Yamaha, E.
ID
ZDB-PUB-110214-17
Date
2010
Source
The International journal of developmental biology   54(10): 1487-1492 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
primordial germ cell, PGC, GFP, nos1, teleost, flow cytometry
MeSH Terms
  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Animals
  • Cell Movement
  • Cell Separation/methods*
  • DEAD-box RNA Helicases/genetics
  • Flow Cytometry*
  • Gene Expression
  • Germ Cells/cytology*
  • Germ Cells/transplantation
  • Goldfish/embryology*
  • Gonads/embryology
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Oryzias/embryology*
  • RNA, Messenger/genetics
  • RNA-Binding Proteins
  • Staining and Labeling
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
PubMed
21302257 Full text @ Int. J. Dev. Biol.
Abstract
Primordial germ cells (PGCs) generate gametes, the only cells that can transmit genetic information to the next generation. A previous report demonstrated that a fusion construct of green fluorescent protein (gfp) and zebrafish nos 1 3UTR mRNA could be used to label PGCs in a number of fish species. Here, we sought to exploit this labeling strategy to isolate teleost PGCs by flow cytometry (FCM), and to use these isolated PGCs to examine germ cell migration to the gonadal region. In zebrafish, medaka and goldfish, the PGCs were labeled by injecting the gfp-nos1 3UTR mRNA into 1- 4 cell embryos. When the embryos had developed to the somitogenesis or later stages, they were enzymatically disaggregated and GFP positive cells isolated using FCM. PGCs in the different species clustered in the same segments of the FCM scatter diagrams for total embryonic cells produced by plotting the forward scatter intensity against GFP intensity. In situ hybridization showed that the sorted zebrafish cells expressed vasa RNA in their cytoplasm, suggesting that they were PGCs. When the migration ability of the sorted cells from zebrafish was examined in an in vivo transplantation experiment, approximately 30% moved to the gonadal region of host embryos. These observations demonstrate that PGCs can be isolated without use of transgenic fishes and that the isolated PGCs retain the ability to migrate. Our data indicate that this technique will be of value for isolating PGCs from a range of fish species.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping