Reproduction Abstracts

The cellular identity of germ cells, the only heritable lineage to the next generation, is distinct from those of somatic lineages. The somatic program is largely suppressed in male germ cells which retain unique cellular identity, passed on to the compacted sperm, and give rise to a totipotent zygote after fertilization. We recently demonstrated that a few thousand genes commonly expressed in somatic lineages and spermatogenesis-progenitor cells (termed somatic/progenitor gen...