A framework for in vitro investigation of germline stem cell biology

Like all animals, each of us was once a single cell fused from a germ cell from each of our parents, who were once single cells fused from germ cells from their parents – and so on. In this way, unbroken lines of the so- called ‘immortal’ germ cells have continuously stayed alive and divided across the evolution of animals. The immortality of germline cells, however, comes with daunting molecular challenges of protecting and repairing the cellular components – most importantly the genetic information encoded in the germ cell DNA. With the new infrastructure we can now investigate how animal germ cell genomes are regulated, repaired and protected at the molecular level.