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Why do germ cells have a different origin than the gonadal organs? Does it help the animals in any way?

P.S. I know it is difficult to answer whys in biology but is there any theory as why do they have different origins.

Tyto alba
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  • Germ cells are protected from mutations and other recombination events. It is therefore essential to keep them isolated. Germ cell segregation, therefore, IMO, happens very early during development. You can have a look at this post. – WYSIWYG Nov 11 '16 at 07:01
  • @WYSIWYG Germ cells are protected from mutations and recombination? I don't get this claim. They are not. Sure, most crossovers happen during meiosis but meiosis occur only at the very last step in the germ line. – Remi.b Nov 11 '16 at 16:32
  • @SanjuktaGhosh I am having a hard time with the semantic behind the post. Can you please help me out and explain how does the question differs (if it differs) from Why do we have specialized sexual organs?? – Remi.b Nov 11 '16 at 21:09
  • @Remi.b I'm actually asking the reason behind germ cell migration. Why did animals evolve with such a different way of germ cell production. You know cells coming from a different region to the gonadal ridge instead of actually developing from the gonadal ridge(the future gonad). Has it got any evolutionary significance? Would it affect the animals if the PGCs developed from the gonadal rigde (post gastrulation structure though) itself? That's what I mean. – Tyto alba Nov 12 '16 at 05:41
  • @Remi.b I am not talking about meiotic recombination. I am talking about transposon expansion and other non-meiotic recombination events. Plus, it is necessary to protect the germ cells from mutations. However, not much is known about how DNA repair mechanisms are highly efficient in germ cells. There are piRNAs to suppress transposon expansion. Overall, genomic instability is actively prevented in germ cells. – WYSIWYG Nov 12 '16 at 06:28
  • @WYSIWYG Could you suggest any e-book,website or paper from where I can learn about non-meiotic recombination? Besides how can somatic mutation affect PGCs? – Tyto alba Nov 28 '16 at 08:32
  • @SanjuktaGhosh You can simply google recombination and you'll get resources. Non-meiotic recombination events include homologous recombination, VDJ recombination, transposon expansion etc. By somatic mutations I meant general mutations that can arise in any cell. Ignore the word "somatic" (it was a mistake). – WYSIWYG Nov 28 '16 at 08:38

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