Fig. 7From: Complete depletion of primordial germ cells in an All-female fish leads to Sex-biased gene expression alteration and sterile All-male occurrenceA schematic diagram of the hypothesized model for the leading role of germ cells on gonadal differentiation in the gynogenetic fish. The process of gonadal development is divided into three stages: before gonadal differentiation, during gonadal differentiation and mature. Before gonadal differentiation, there are PGCs and somatic precursor cells in WT gonads, whereas no PGCs in germ cell-deficient gonads. During gonadal differentiation, there are PGCs and somatic precursor cells, and early oocytes with granulosa cells and thecal cells on their surface, and estrogen-producing cells in WT gonads; however, in the germ cell-deficient gonads, there are somatic precursor cells, Sertoli cells, Leydig cells and androgen-producing cells. At mature stage, there are many mature occytes and several early occytes, granulosa cells and thecal cells surround around the occytes, and estrogen-producing cells are distributed among oocytes in WT gonads; whereas, there are many Sertoli cells arrayed into circles, Leydig cells and androgen-producing cells in the germ cell-deficient gonadsBack to article page