Highlighted article: 'E(nos)/CG4699 is required for nanos function in the female germ line of Drosophila' by Yu, Song and Wharton.Comments Comment on: Genesis. 2010 Mar;48(3):161-70; PMID: 20095054

摘要

The role of chromatin modifications in regulating gene expression during development and in maintaining pluripotency of stem cells is well recognized. However, the details of this regulation are still not fully understood. An important system for elucidating the role of epigenetic modifications is the germ line, which maintains totipotency throughout an organism’s reproductive life span. Germ line stem cells (GSCs) must repress somatic gene expression to maintain their capacity for self-renewal. In Drosophila and C. elegans, one of the earliest events in primordial germ cells (PGCs) is the inhibition of somatic gene expression via Nanos-dependent reduction of an activating chromatin modification to Histone H3. In this issue, Yu et al. turn this regulatory relationship around, showing that another chromatin modification is required to maintain Nanos expression in mature GSCs of the Drosophila ovary.