Germline development articles from across Nature Portfolio

DNMT3A and DNMT3L form a complex to deposit DNA methylation in mammalian germ cells. Here, the authors report that loss-of-function of ADD domains of DNMT3A and/or DNMT3L has various impacts on DNA methylation landscapes in mouse oocytes and sperm.

The cytogenetic analysis of gonial cells and meiocytes on Korean loach complex suggest that instant switch between sexual to asexual reproduction in hybrids depend on their ploidy and genome dosage.

Disease-causing variants define a conserved and unique NR5A1 responsive enhancer for SRY expression to initiate testis-determination in humans. Modelling regulatory variants causing sex-reversal provides a tool to understand global enhancer activity.

Cells use diverse mechanisms to rid themselves of dysfunctional or excess mitochondria. A study now shows that C. elegans sperm use a previously undescribed mechanism to rapidly expel single healthy mitochondria in membrane-bound structures called mitophers.

Phosphorylation of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance factor TFAM during spermatogenesis prevents its import into mitochondria, resulting in elimination of paternal mtDNA and leading to maternal inheritance.

Sarkar et al. identify a feedback loop between the methyltransferase SETDB1 and nuclear pore complexes that ensures silencing of early-oogenesis genes as oocyte specification progresses.

In many species, maternally deposited Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) deliver intergenerational epigenetic information to protect progeny from transposon expansion or invasion. However, Y-chromosome-encoded piRNAs cannot be passed from mothers to male offspring, yet mothers use autosomally encoded piRNAs to allow sons to utilize their Y chromosome to protect against ‘selfish’ elements.