A positive feedback loop between germ cells and gonads induces and maintains sexual reproduction in a cnidarian

The fertile gonad includes cells of two distinct developmental origins: the somatic mesoderm and the germ line. How somatic and germ cells interact to develop and maintain fertility is not well understood. Here, using grafting experiments and transgenic reporter animals, we find that a specific part of the gonad-the germinal zone-acts as a sexual organizer to induce and maintain de novo germ cells and somatic gonads in the cnidarian Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus. Germ cells express a member of the transforming growth factor-β family, Gonadless (Gls), that induces gonad morphogenesis. Loss of Gls resulted in animals lacking gonads but having nonproliferative germ cells. We propose that primary germ cells drive gonad development though Gls secretion. The germinal zone in the newly formed gonad provides positive feedback to induce secondary germ cells by activating Tfap2 in resident pluripotent stem cells. The contribution of germ cell signaling to the patterning of somatic gonadal tissue may be a general animal feature.