The positional effect of presumptive primordial germ cells (pPGCs) on their differentiation into PGCs in Xenopus

Abstract To determine whether the location of ‘germ plasm’-bearing cells [presumptive primordial germ cells (pPGCs)] is crucial for their differentiation into PGCs in Xenopus, [3H]thymidine-labelled pPGCs were implanted into the anterior or posterior halves of the endoderm in unlabelted host neurulae. Labelled PGCs in the genital ridges of experimental tadpoles were investigated by autoradiography. When the labelled pPGCs were implanted into posterior halves of the endoderm where host pPGCs are situated, 65 and 77 % of the experimental tadpoles (designated as p-tadpoles) had the labelled PGCs in series 1 and II, respectively. When implanted into the anterior halves, 20 and 27 % of the experimental tadpoles (a-tadpoles) had the labelled PGCs in series I and II, respectively. In p-tadpoles, the average numbers of labelled PGCs per tadpole were 8·7 in series I and 10 in series II, whereas they were 2· 0 in a-tadpoies of both series. Both the proportion and the average number in p-tadpoles of both series were significantly different from those in a-tadpoles. In both series, labelled PGCs in p-tadpoles were found to be distributed throughout the genital ridges while those in a-tadpoles were localized only in the anterior part of the ridges. These facts indicate that the location of pPGCs in the endoderm affects their successful migration into the genital ridges, and that not only the presence of the germ plasm but also the proper location in endoderm are prerequisites to PGC differentiation of the germ line cells.