Cover design Differential gene expression in human male and female primordial germ cells. The cover of Molecular Human Reproduction shows the results of a differential display technique used for studying gene expression in human primordial germ cells (PGCs). At 10 weeks gestation, a whole fetus (lane 3) and PGCs isolated from male (lane 1) and female (lane 2) fetal gonads were used for preparing cDNA which was then amplified by PCR using six different sets of primers. The numbered fragments were cloned and sequenced; of these, three were germ cell specific (3, 4 and 5), two were female germ cell specific (6 and 7) and three were male germ cell specific (8, 9 and 10). Transcript number three was identified as a member of the human olfactory receptor gene family, while transcripts nine and 10 showed homology with the human calreticulin gene and human Reps 1 gene respectively. Other transcripts were either novel or homologous to uncharacterised sequences. For further details, see 851-860.
[Table of Contents]