About the speaker: Dustin Updike, Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory
About the seminar: In an animal, the same DNA will be found in both its somatic and germ cells; yet, only germ cells can produce the next generation. What then distinguishes a somatic cell’s terminal fate from the totipotent and immortal potential of a germ cell? Part of the answer lies in the germ cell’s cytoplasm, where “germ granules” assemble around the outside of the nuclear envelope. Germ granules provide a microenvironment to survey nascent transcripts, ensuring that only those licensed for the germline are translated into protein. Germ granules are also processing centers for small RNAs and function to perpetuate the memory of germline expression from one generation to the next. Our latest work explores the role of a germ granule protein we’ve called LOTR-1, which shares homology to cancer-testis antigens TDRD5 and TDRD7 in mammals, and how it functions across generations to ensure germline integrity.
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