Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Nord University, Bodø, Norway.
Section of Animal and Human Physiology, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
J Evol Biol. 2021 Apr;34(4):671-679. doi: 10.1111/jeb.13769. Epub 2021 Feb 15.
Tissue regeneration is a fundamental evolutionary adaptation, which is well known in lizards that can regenerate their entire tail. However, numerous parameters of this process remain poorly understood. Lizard tail serves many functions. Thus, tail autotomy comes with many disadvantages and the need for quick regeneration is imperative. To provide the required energy and materials for caudal tissue building, lizards are expected to undergo a number of physiological and biochemical adjustments. Previous research showed that tail regeneration induces changes in the digestive process. Here, we investigated if and how tail regeneration affects the digestive performance in five wall lizard species deriving from mainland and island sites and questioned whether the association of tail regeneration and digestion is affected by species relationships or environmental features, including predation pressure. We expected that lizards from high predation environments would regenerate their tail faster and modify accordingly their digestive efficiency, prioritizing the digestion of proteins; the main building blocks for tissue repair. Second, we anticipated that the general food shortage on islands would inhibit the process. Our findings showed that all species shifted their digestive efficiency, as predicted. Elongation rate was higher in sites with stronger predation regime and this was also applied to the rate with which protein digestion raised. Gut passage time increases during regeneration so as to improve the nutrient absorbance, but among the islanders, the pace was more intense. The deviations between species should be attributed to the different ecological conditions prevailing on islands rather than to their phylogenetic relationships.
组织再生是一种基本的进化适应，在能够再生整个尾巴的蜥蜴中广为人知。然而，这个过程的许多参数仍然知之甚少。蜥蜴的尾巴有多种功能。因此，尾巴自切伴随着许多缺点，快速再生是必要的。为了为尾组织的构建提供所需的能量和材料，蜥蜴预计会经历一些生理和生化调整。先前的研究表明，尾巴再生会引起消化过程的变化。在这里，我们调查了尾巴再生是否以及如何影响来自大陆和岛屿地点的五种壁虎物种的消化性能，并质疑尾巴再生和消化之间的关联是否受到物种关系或环境特征（包括捕食压力）的影响。我们预计，来自高捕食环境的蜥蜴会更快地再生尾巴，并相应地调整其消化效率，优先消化蛋白质；蛋白质是组织修复的主要构建块。其次，我们预计岛屿上普遍的食物短缺会抑制这个过程。我们的研究结果表明，所有物种都如预测的那样改变了它们的消化效率。在捕食强度较大的地点，伸长率更高，而蛋白质消化率的提高速度也更快。在再生过程中，肠道通过时间会增加，以提高养分吸收率，但在岛民中，这个速度更快。物种之间的差异应该归因于岛屿上流行的不同生态条件，而不是它们的系统发育关系。
