Primitive germ cells (PGCs) are the "ancestor" of sex germ cells. However, their regulation mechanism is not clear at present. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of PPAR signaling pathway on the differentiation of chicken embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into PGCs, providing theoretical support for the further study of the mechanism of regulation of chicken PGCs. Based on the results of RNA-Seq analysis, the key signal pathway PPAR and the key signal molecule RXRG in the pathway were successfully screened. Also, we made the PPAR signal transduction pathway be activated in vivo and in vitro. The results showed that the expression of FABP3 and SCD-1 was up-regulated by high expression of RXRG, which significantly up-regulated the expression of Cvh, C-kit, and the ratio of Cvh + C-kit+ cells was higher than that of control group. The formation of PGCs was blocked by interfering with PPAR signaling pathway. We conclude that RXRG positively regulates the PPAR signaling pathway and promotes differentiation of chicken ESCs into PGCs. Thus, gene RXRG can be used to study the regulation of PGCs differentiation in chickens.
Keywords: PGCs; PPAR signal; chicken; differentiation; regulation.
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