Research Projects

Germ cells are essential for sexual reproduction and are crucial for the continuity of life in sexually reproducing organisms. However, understanding germ cell specification, sex-determination, and molecular changes during gametogenesis in mammals is limited due to short developmental windows and technical limitations. This project proposes a tractable model system using Hydra, a diploblastic organism lacking mesoderm-derived complex gonads, to understand genetic and epigenetic changes during male gametogenesis. The hypothesis is that a conserved cell-autonomous gene regulatory mechanism plays a critical role in male germ cell specification from multipotent stem cells and development in Hydra. The objectives of the project include identifying genes associated with germ cell specification in Hydra, gene regulation during male-specific germline development, and dynamics of DNA methylation during specification of PGC and gamete development. An experimental approach involves unbiased transcriptome analysis of putative male-specific germs, isolating multipotent cell derivatives in Hydra using transgenic polyps, and comparing them with asexual polyps. This will enable tracking of male germ cells during development and scoring further gene expression changes using high-throughput RNA sequencing. The project primarily establishes an experimentally amenable model, providing a significant advancement in our understanding of intrinsic factors contributing to germ cell specification and development, as well as testing various hypotheses related to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.