Department of Pharmacology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Curr Biol. 2017 Apr 3;27(7):R252-R256. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.016.
Platyhelminthes (flatworms) have captivated the imagination of biologists for centuries. Indeed, planarian flatworms were used as experimental models decades before Caenorhabditis elegans became known as 'the worm'. Although planarians experienced a brief fall from grace, with the advent of molecular tools, planarians, such as Schmidtea mediterranea, have emerged in recent years as powerful models to study the basis of stem cell regulation and tissue regeneration. Flatworms are not just everyone's favorite experimental subjects from high school biology - they also include some of nature's most successful parasites, many of which have plagued humans throughout our history. This Primer will focus on several aspects of the remarkable biology found throughout the phylum Platyhelminthes.
扁形动物（扁虫）几个世纪以来一直吸引着生物学家的想象力。事实上，在秀丽隐杆线虫被称为“线虫”之前几十年，涡虫就已被用作实验模型。尽管涡虫曾有过短暂的失宠期，但随着分子工具的出现，近年来，像 Schmidtea mediterranea 这样的涡虫已成为研究干细胞调控和组织再生基础的强大模型。扁形动物不仅是每个人在高中生物学课上最喜欢的实验对象——它们还包括一些自然界中最成功的寄生虫，其中许多寄生虫在我们的历史上一直困扰着人类。本入门将重点介绍扁形动物门中发现的几个显著生物学方面。
