Overview
- State-of-the-art summary on the important role of germ cells to life
- Gives profound information on the molecular and signaling events that control germ cells formation and maintenance
- Explains the mechanisms that regulate oocyte fitness and quality in humans and vertebrates
Part of the book series: Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation (RESULTS, volume 59)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Germ cells are uniquely poised to sustain life across generations through the fusion of oocyte and sperm. Because of the central importance of germ cells to life, much work has been dedicated to obtaining a clear understanding of the molecular and signaling events that control their formation and maintenance. Germ cells are set aside from somatic cells in the embryo and go through specialized meiotic cell cycles as the animal matures. These cell cycles are interspersed with long periods of arrest. In human females, meiosis I is initiated in the fetus. At birth, oocytes are arrested in meiosis I; after puberty, every month an oocyte initiates meiosis II – ovulation. Upon sperm availability these cells are fertilized, generate an embryo, and the cycle-of-life continues. During meiotic I progression and arrest, the fitness of oocytes and their progeny are likely influenced by environmental cues and signaling pathways.
A lot of recent work has focused on understanding the mechanisms that regulate oocyte fitness and quality in humans and vertebrates. Much of our understanding on the events of meiosis I and germline stem cell populations comes from work in invertebrates, wherein the germline stem cells produce oocytes continuously through adult development. In both inverbrates and vertebrates nutritional and signaling pathways control the regulation of stem cells in such a manner so as to couple production of gametes with the nutritional availability. Additionally, mature oocytes arrest both in meiosis I and meiosis II, and signaling and nutritional pathways have been shown to regulate their formation, and maintenance, such that despite long periods ofarrest, the oocyte quality is assured and errors in chromosome segregation and varied cytoplasmic events are minimal.
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Signaling-Mediated Control of Cell Division
Book Subtitle: From Oogenesis to Oocyte-to-Embryo Development
Editors: Swathi Arur
Series Title: Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44820-6
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-44819-0Published: 07 March 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-83143-5Published: 18 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-44820-6Published: 28 February 2017
Series ISSN: 0080-1844
Series E-ISSN: 1861-0412
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 292
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 34 illustrations in colour
Topics: Embryology, Cell Cycle Analysis, Stem Cells, Gene Expression, Cell Physiology