...Nicholas J. Webster; Rebecca L. Maywald; Susan M. Benton; Emily P. Dawson; Oscar D. Murillo; Emily L. LaPlante; Aleksandar Milosavljevic; Denise G. Lanza; Jason D. Heaney ABSTRACT In response to signals from the embryonic testis, the germ cell intrinsic factor NANOS2 coordinates a transcriptional...

... switch: XX and XY germ cells repress pluripotency, XX germ cells initiate meiosis, and XY germ cells activate male-specific differentiation and mitotic arrest. Here, we report that expression of Nanos2 , a gene that is crucial to male sex specification, is delayed in teratoma-susceptible germ cells...

... of Biologists Ltd 2015 Summary : In male primodial germ cells, depletion of Smad2 leads to loss of male-specific gene expression, while p38 is required for suppression of retinoic acid signalling and meiosis. Sex determination Meiosis SMAD2 signaling p38 signaling Nanos2 Smad2/3...

.... Furthermore, we prove that nodal/activin-A works directly on male germ cells to induce the male-specific gene Nanos2 independently of FGF9. We conclude that nodal/activin signaling is required for testicular development and propose a model in which nodal/activin-A acts downstream of fibroblast growth factor...