High telomerase is a hallmark of undifferentiated spermatogonia and is required for maintenance of male germline stem cells

Here, Pech et al. use telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) reporter mice and show that very high telomerase expression is a hallmark of undifferentiated spermatogonia. These results provide insight into the dependence on telomerase within the germline in metazoans and demonstrate that telomere maintenance in germline stem cells is a central determinant of germline immortality.

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