Journal article
DDX4 (VASA) is conserved in germ cell development in marsupials and monotremes
DE Hickford, S Frankenberg, AJ Pask, G Shaw, MB Renfree
Biology of Reproduction | Published : 2011
Abstract
DDX4 (VASA) is an RNA helicase expressed in the germ cells of all animals. To gain greater insight into the role of this gene in mammalian germ cell development, we characterized DDX4 in both a marsupial (the tammar wallaby) and a monotreme (the platypus). DDX4 is highly conserved between eutherian, marsupial, and monotreme mammals. DDX4 protein is absent from tammar fetal germ cells but is present from Day 1 postpartum in both sexes. The distribution of DDX4 protein during oogenesis and spermatogenesis in the tammar is similar to eutherians. Female tammar germ cells contain DDX4 protein throughout all stages of postnatal oogenesis. In males, DDX4 is in gonocytes, and during spermatogenesis ..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
Supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP110103631) and an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship to M.B.R. There is no financial or other potential conflict of interest. Transcript sequences for tammar and platypus DDX4 have been submitted to GenBank (GenBank accession numbers HQ412806, HQ412808, HQ412807, and HQ412807).