GENETIC-CONTROL OF MITOSIS, MEIOSIS AND CELLULAR-DIFFERENTIATION DURING MAMMALIAN SPERMATOGENESIS

Gametogenesis in both the male and female mammal represents a speciali zed and highly regulated series of cell cycle events, involving both m itosis and meiosis as well as subsequent differentiation. Recent advan ces in our understanding of the genetic control of the eukaryotic cell cycle have underscored the evolutionarily-conserved nature of these r egulatory processes. However, most of the data have been obtained from yeast model systems and mammalian cell lines. Furthermore, most of th e observations focus on regulation of mitotic cell cycles. In the pres ent paper: (i) aspects of gametogenesis in mammals that represent uniq ue cell-cycle control points are highlighted; (ii) current knowledge o n the regulation of the germ cell cycle, in the context of what is kno wn in yeast and other model eukaryotic systems, is summarized; and (ii i) strategies that can be used to identify additional cell cycle regul ating genes are outlined.