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Germ plasm and the origin of the primordial germ cells in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense

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Abstract

Germ plasm is a special cytoplasmic component containing special RNAs and proteins, and is located in specific regions of oocytes and embryos. Only the blastomeres inheriting the germ plasm can develop into primordial germ cells (PGCs). By using Vasa mRNA as a germline marker, we previously demonstrated that germline specification followed the preformation mode in the prawn Macrobrachium nipponense. In this study, we raised the Vasa antibody to identify germ plasm in the oocyte and trace the origin and migration of PGCs. In previtellogenic oocytes, Vasa protein was detected in the perinuclear region, in which electron-dense granules associated with numerous mitochondria were mostly visualized under a transmission electron microscope. In mature oocytes, immunosignal was localized to a large granule under the plasma membrane. During early embryogenesis, the granule was inherited by a single blastomere from 1-cell to 16-cell stages, and thereafter was segregated into two daughter blastomeres at the 32-cell stage. In gastrula, the Vasa-positive cells were large with typical PGC characteristics, containing a big round nucleus and a prominent nucleolus. The immunosignal was localized to the perinuclear region again. In the zoea stage, the Vasa-positive cells migrated toward the genital ridge and clustered in the dorsomedial region close to the yolk portion. Accordingly, we concluded that the prawn PGCs could be specified from the 16-cell stage by inheriting the germplasm. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the identification of the prawn germ plasm and PGCs. The continuous expression of Vasa protein throughout oogenesis and embryogenesis suggests that Vasa protein could be an important factor in germ plasm that functions in early germ cell specification.

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Funding

This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (project number 2018YFD0900201) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (project number 31772841).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Freshwater Aquatic Genetic Resources, Ministry of Agriculture; National Demonstration Center for Experimental Fisheries Science Education; Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Aquaculture, Shanghai Ocean University, 999 Hucheng Ring Road, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Ying Chen, Xiang Fang, Xiao-Qing Tian, Zheng Cui, Hai-Yang Feng & Gao-Feng Qiu

  2. College of Fisheries and Life Science, Pudong New Area, Shanghai Ocean University, 999 Hucheng Ring Road, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Gao-Feng Qiu

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  1. Ying Chen
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  2. Xiang Fang
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  3. Xiao-Qing Tian
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Ying Chen and Xiang Fang are co-first authors of the study.

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Correspondence to Gao-Feng Qiu.

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All the handling of prawns was conducted in accordance with the guidelines on the care and use of animals for scientific purposes set up by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China.

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Chen, Y., Fang, X., Tian, XQ. et al. Germ plasm and the origin of the primordial germ cells in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense. Cell Tissue Res 386, 559–569 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-021-03534-4

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