Comprehensive profiling of migratory primordial germ cells reveals niche-specific differences in non-canonical Wnt and Nodal-Lefty signaling in anterior vs posterior migrants
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Mammalian primordial germ cells (PGCs) migrate asynchronously through the embryonic hindgut and dorsal mesentery to reach the gonads. To characterize transcriptional heterogeneity of migrating PGCs and their niches, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of 13,262 mouse PGCs and 7,868 surrounding somatic cells during migration (E9.5, E10.5, E11.5) and in anterior versus posterior locations to enrich for leading and lagging migrants. Analysis of PGCs by position revealed dynamic gene expression changes between faster or earlier migrants in the anterior and slower or later migrants in the posterior at E9.5. At E10.5, we found that anterior PGCs upregulate Nodal transcriptional targets including Lefty1/2 and validated this LEFTY1/2 upregulation via whole-mount immunofluorescence staining. This positional and temporal atlas of mouse PGCs supports the idea that niche interactions along the migratory route elicit changes in proliferation, actin dynamics, pluripotency and epigenetic reprogramming.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE274603 | GEO | 2024/10/08
REPOSITORIES: GEO
ACCESS DATA