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FIG. 1. Origin of PGCs. Germ plasm in A, B, and C is shown in red; PGCs in all panels are depicted in red as well. (A) C. elegans P granules
are distributed throughout the mature egg. They are segregated away from the somatic lineage through a series of unequal divisions that
produces the P1 blastomere in the 2-cell embryo and the germline founder, P4, in the 16 cell embryo. Modified from Seydoux and Strome,
1999. (B) Drosophila pole plasm is localized at the posterior end of the mature egg. The early embryo undergoes synchronous nuclear
divisions without cytokinesis. Nuclei that arrive at the posterior end of the embryo are the first to cellularize, thus forming pole cells that
include pole plasm. (C) Xenopus germinal plasm is localized to the vegetal pole of the mature egg. It is partitioned equally between the first
four blastomeres and ingresses along the cleavage planes. At the blastula stage, germinal plasm is found in about 20 cells that are positioned
near the floor of the blastocoel. Modified from Ikenishi, 1998. (D) Chick PGCs are first detected at the blastodisc stage. They are mostly
found in a region called the germinal crescent that is positioned anteriorly to the embryo proper. Modified from Fujimoto et al., 1976. (E)
Mouse PGCs can be visualized at around day 7.5 postfertilization. They are found in the area of the epiblast that is proximal to the primitive
streak. Modified from Buehr, 1997.
