Identification of a mouse germ cell-less homologue with conserved activityin Drosophila

Drosophila Germ cell-less (Gcl) has previously been shown to be important i n early events during the formation of pole cells, which are the germ cell precursors in the fly. We have isolated a 524 amino acid mouse gene with 32 % identity and 49% similarity to Drosophila gel, termed mgcl-1. Like Drosop hila Gel, mGcl-1 localizes to the nuclear envelope. Ectopic expression of m gcl-1 in Drosophila rescues the gcl-null phenotype, indicating that mGcl-1 is a functional homologue of Gel. mgcl-1 maps to chromosome 6 at 47.3 cM, a nd is expressed at low levels at all embryonic stages examined from 8.5 to 18.5 d.p.c. as well as in many adult tissues. Different from Drosophila gel , mgcl-1 is not highly expressed at the time the primordial germ cells appe ar in the mouse, but high mgcl-1 expression is found in selected mouse adul t male germ cells. The differences in these expression patterns in light of conserved activity between the two genes is discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier S cience Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.