Vasa expression and germ-cell specification in the spider mite tetranychus urticae

  1. Dearden, P. 123
  2. Grbic, M. 2
  3. Donly, C. 3
  1. 1 University of Otago
    info

    University of Otago

    Dunedin, Nueva Zelanda

    ROR https://ror.org/01jmxt844

  2. 2 University of Western Ontario
    info

    University of Western Ontario

    London, Canadá

    ROR https://ror.org/02grkyz14

  3. 3 Southern Crop Protec./Food Res. Ctr., Agriculture/Agri-Food Canada, 1391 Sandford Street, London, Ont. N5V 4T3, Canada
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Journal:
Development Genes and Evolution

ISSN: 0949-944X

Year of publication: 2003

Volume: 212

Issue: 12

Pages: 599-603

Type: Article

PMID: 12536324 SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-0037278366 GOOGLE SCHOLAR

More publications in: Development Genes and Evolution

Institutional repository: lock_openOpen access Editor

Abstract

The specification of germ cells is an important process during the development of all animals. Expression of an evolutionarily conserved gene such as vasa can be used as a marker for germ cell fate. We have isolated a vasa-related gene from the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae) and used it to examine the segregation of germ cells in this animal. In spider mites, vasa expression first appears in a group of cells that do not join the initial blastoderm surface. Instead, these cells remain in the interior of the blastoderm and then migrate to posterior regions of the embryo, where they form a cluster that appears in regions of the embryo consistent with the gonads. The expression pattern of this spider mite vasa homologue implies a novel process acts to specify germ cells in this species and that the specification of germ cells is an evolutionarily labile process.