ArticleBiology open2013
Evidence against a germ plasm in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus, a hemimetabolous insect.
Article in Biology open, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- The dynamic evolution of panarthropod germ cell specification mechanisms.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Article
- Intraspecific microbiome dynamics across the life cycle of the milkweed bugMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Ap-Vas1 distribution unveils new insights into germline development in the parthenogenetic and viviparous pea aphid: from germ-plasm assembly to germ-cell clustering.Annals of the Entomological Society of America · 2025Article
- Article
- Germline specification and axis determination in viviparous and oviparous pea aphids: conserved and divergent features.Development genes and evolution · 2022Review
- Evolution of germ plasm assembly and function among the insects.Current opinion in insect science · 2022Review
- Gene Editing and Genetic Control of Hemipteran Pests: Progress, Challenges and Perspectives.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Review
- The trade-off between investment in weapons and fertility is mediated through spermatogenesis in the leaf-footed cactus bugEcology and evolution · 2021Article
- The essential role of Dnmt1 ineLife · 2021Article
- Primordial Germ Cell Specification in Vertebrate Embryos: Phylogenetic Distribution and Conserved Molecular Features of Preformation and Induction.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Review
- High-Efficiency CRISPR/Cas9 Mutagenesis of theGenetics · 2020Article
- Article
- Dnmt1 is essential for egg production and embryo viability in the large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus.Epigenetics & chromatin · 2019Article
- A study of the transit amplification divisions during spermatogenesis inEcology and evolution · 2018Article
- A revised understanding of Tribolium morphogenesis further reconciles short and long germ development.PLoS biology · 2018Article
- The evolution of insect germline specification strategies.Current opinion in insect science · 2016Article
- Germ Line Versus Soma in the Transition from Egg to Embryo.Current topics in developmental biology · 2015Review
- Divergent RNA Localisation Patterns of Maternal Genes Regulating Embryonic Patterning in the Butterfly Pararge aegeria.PloS one · 2015Article
- Molecular Cloning and Characterization of G Alpha Proteins from the Western Tarnished Plant Bug, Lygus hesperus.Insects · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Primordial germ cell (PGC) formation in holometabolous insects like Drosophila melanogaster relies on maternally synthesised germ cell determinants that are asymmetrically localised to the oocyte posterior cortex. Embryonic nuclei that inherit this "germ plasm" acquire PGC fate. In contrast, historical studies of basally branching insects (Hemimetabola) suggest that a maternal requirement for germ line genes in PGC specification may be a derived character confined principally to Holometabola. However, there have been remarkably few investigations of germ line gene expression and function in hemimetabolous insects. Here we characterise PGC formation in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus, a member of the sister group to Holometabola, thus providing an important evolutionary comparison to members of this clade. We examine the transcript distribution of orthologues of 19 Drosophila germ cell and/or germ plasm marker genes, and show that none of them localise asymmetrically within Oncopeltus oocytes or early embryos. Using multiple molecular and cytological criteria, we provide evidence that PGCs form after cellularisation at the site of gastrulation. Functional studies of vasa and tudor reveal that these genes are not required for germ cell formation, but that vasa is required in adult males for spermatogenesis. Taken together, our results provide evidence that Oncopeltus germ cells may form in the absence of germ plasm, consistent with the hypothesis that germ plasm is a derived strategy of germ cell specification in insects.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.