Riddell Brennan, McDonough Molly, Ferguson Adam, Kimani John M, Gawriluk Thomas R, Peng Chi, Kiama Stephen G, Ezenwa Vanessa O, Seifert Ashley W
Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40508.
Department of Biological Sciences, Chicago State University, Chicago, IL 60628.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jan 7;122(1):e2420726122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2420726122. Epub 2024 Dec 30.
Identifying why complex tissue regeneration is present or absent in specific vertebrate lineages has remained elusive. One also wonders whether the isolated examples where regeneration is observed represent cases of convergent evolution or are instead the product of phylogenetic inertia from a common ancestral program. Testing alternative hypotheses to identify genetic regulation, cell states, and tissue physiology that explain how regenerative healing emerges in some species requires sampling multiple species among which there is variation in regenerative ability across a phylogenetic framework. Here, we interrogate tissue healing across eleven rodents and show that brush-furred mice () are capable of musculoskeletal regeneration where new tissue faithfully maintains axial polarity and tissue identity as previously observed in spiny mice (). In contrast, we find that all nondeomyine rodents heal identical ear pinna injuries via fibrotic repair with scar tissue. Together, these data reveal a phylogenetic signal for enhanced regenerative ability in Deomyinae which is key to testing evolutionary hypotheses about the emergence of regenerative ability in mammals.
确定特定脊椎动物谱系中复杂组织再生存在或不存在的原因一直难以捉摸。人们还想知道，观察到再生现象的孤立例子是趋同进化的案例，还是来自共同祖先程序的系统发育惯性的产物。要检验替代假说，以确定解释某些物种如何出现再生愈合的基因调控、细胞状态和组织生理学，需要在系统发育框架内对多个具有不同再生能力的物种进行采样。在这里，我们研究了11种啮齿动物的组织愈合情况，发现刷毛鼠（）能够进行肌肉骨骼再生，新组织如先前在刺毛鼠（）中观察到的那样，忠实地维持轴向极性和组织特性。相比之下，我们发现所有非地鼠亚科啮齿动物通过瘢痕组织的纤维化修复来愈合相同的耳廓损伤。这些数据共同揭示了地鼠亚科中再生能力增强的系统发育信号，这对于检验关于哺乳动物再生能力出现的进化假说至关重要。
