Foundations of a good egg: correctly transitioning from mitosis to meiosis

生育有生存能力的后代对任何物种的生存都至关重要。在所有有性繁殖的物种中，这需要一种独特的细胞类型——生殖细胞。生殖细胞经历一种特殊类型的细胞分裂，称为减数分裂，因此它们最终可以产生配子（雄性精子和雌性卵子）。该项目旨在发现生殖细胞如何停止称为有丝分裂的标准细胞分裂形式，而开始减数分裂。了解正常生殖细胞发育过程中发生的所有基本过程是很重要的，这样，在未来，我们就可以利用这些知识来支持农业进步，拯救濒危物种，解决诸如不孕症和遗传疾病等人类问题。

Production of viable offspring is essential to the survival of any species. In all sexually reproducing species, this requires a unique cell type, the germ cell. Germ cells undergo a special type of cell division, called meiosis, so that they can eventually produce gametes (sperm in males and eggs in females). This project aims to discover how germ cells halt the standard form of cell division, called mitosis, and initiate meiotic division instead. It is important to understand all the fundamental processes that occur during normal germ cell development so that, in the future, we can use this knowledge to support agricultural advances, rescue endangered species and solve human problems such as infertility and genetic disease.