Transcriptional quiescence, an evolutionarily conserved trait, distinguishes the embryonic primordial germ cells (PGCs) from their somatic neighbors. InDrosophila melanogaster, PGCs from embryos maternally compromised forgerm cell-less(gcl) misexpress somatic genes, possibly resulting in PGC loss. Recent studies documented a requirement for Gcl during proteolytic degradation of the terminal patterning determinant, Torso receptor. Here we demonstrate that the somatic determinant of female fate,Sex-lethal(Sxl), is a biologically relevant transcriptional target of Gcl. Underscoring the significance of transcriptional silencing mediated by Gcl, ectopic expression of a degradation-resistant form of Torso (torso^Deg) can activateSxltranscription in PGCs, whereas simultaneous loss oftorso-like(tsl) reinstates the quiescent status ofgclPGCs. Intriguingly, likegclmutants, embryos derived from mothers expressingtorso^Degin the germline display aberrant spreading of pole plasm RNAs, suggesting that mutual antagonism between Gcl and Torso ensures the controlled release of germ-plasm underlying the germline/soma distinction.