Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 22;15(1):6659. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50865-1.
Regeneration in many animals involves the formation of a blastema, which differentiates and organizes into the appropriate missing body parts. Although the mechanisms underlying blastema formation are often fundamental to regeneration biology, information on the cellular and molecular basis of blastema formation remains limited. Here, we focus on a fragmenting potworm (Enchytraeus japonensis), which can regenerate its whole body from small fragments. We find soxC and mmpReg as upregulated genes in the blastema. RNAi of soxC and mmpReg reduce the number of blastema cells, indicating that soxC and mmpReg promote blastema formation. Expression analyses show that soxC-expressing cells appear to gradually accumulate in blastema and constitute a large part of the blastema. Additionally, similar expression dynamics of SoxC orthologue genes in frog (Xenopus laevis) are found in the regeneration blastema of tadpole tail. Our findings provide insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying blastema formation across species.
许多动物的再生涉及到芽基的形成，芽基会分化并组织成适当的缺失体部分。虽然芽基形成的机制通常对再生生物学很基础，但关于芽基形成的细胞和分子基础的信息仍然有限。在这里，我们关注一种碎裂管蠕虫（Enchytraeus japonensis），它可以从小碎片中再生出整个身体。我们发现 soxC 和 mmpReg 作为芽基中上调的基因。soxC 和 mmpReg 的 RNAi 减少了芽基细胞的数量，表明 soxC 和 mmpReg 促进了芽基的形成。表达分析表明，soxC 表达的细胞似乎逐渐在芽基中积累，并构成芽基的很大一部分。此外，在青蛙（Xenopus laevis）的再生尾芽中也发现了 SoxC 同源基因的类似表达动态。我们的发现为跨物种的芽基形成的细胞和分子机制提供了新的见解。
