Meeting Abstract
The germ line serves as an essential tool for sexual reproduction by giving rise to gametes that create successive generations. To understand how germ line specification has evolved, we have characterized genes with conserved germ line function in acoel flatworms, which likely occupy an important phylogenetic position basal to other bilaterians. The hermaphroditic acoel Convolutriloba macropyga possesses neoblasts that give rise to both male and female germ cells directly within parenchymal tissues. We have characterized the spatiotemporal dynamics by which germ cell differentiation occurs; germ cells first appear at an anteromedial body location and then migrate posteriorly to somatic accessory organs. While homologs of nanos, piwi, pumilio, and argonaute are co-localized in both neoblasts and germ cells, vasa homologs are exclusively present in germ line cells. Most markers are expressed in both the male and female germ line, yet argonaute homologs are specific to female germ cells only. By using RNAi-mediated gene knockdown, we are functionally characterizing these genes to elucidate putative roles in specifying germ cell lineage fate and sex-specific germ cell determination.
