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Vertebrate-like regeneration in the invertebrate chordate amphioxus

By 23 de January de 2012November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 23.01.2012

Vertebrate-like regeneration in the invertebrate chordate amphioxus

An important question in biology is why some animals are able to regenerate, whereas others are not. To address this question, a team led by from Dr. Jordi Garcia-Fernández from the Department of Genetics and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB) –based in the Barcelona Scientific Park– and Hèctor Escrivà, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, has studied the basal chordate amphioxus. The study was published in the in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS).


The basal chordate amphioxus is uniquely positioned to address the evolution of regeneration. According to their research, adults of the European amphioxus Branchiostoma lanceolatum are able to regenerate both anterior and posterior structures, including neural tube, notochord, fin, and muscle. Development of a classifier based on tail regeneration profiles predicts the assignment of young and old adults to their own class with >94% accuracy. The process involves loss of differentiated characteristics, formation of an msx-expressing blastema, and neurogenesis. Moreover, regeneration is linked to the activation of satellite-like Pax3/7 progenitor cells, the extent of which declines with size and age. Their results provide a framework for understanding the evolution and diversity of regeneration mechanisms in vertebrates.

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