BODY PARTS REGENERATION MAY SOON BE POSSIBLE Researchers have discovered the genes that prompt tail regeneration in lizards, which takes them a step closer to understanding how to stimulate regeneration in humans. When lizards are caught by predators, they can drop their tails to escape and then grow the appendage back. Scientists have studied this regeneration process for decades, in the hopes of understanding how to regenerate human tissues, such as damaged spinal chords and even lost limbs. Now a team of scientists from Arizona State University in the US has performed the first analysis of all RNA molecules, which translate genes into proteins, during the tail regeneration of a green anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis), and worked out the genetic “recipe” that controls the regrowth process. Their results have been published in PLOS ONE. Using next-generation technologies to sequence all the genes expressed during regeneration, we have unlocked the mystery of what genes are needed to regrow the lizard tail,” said lead author Kenro Kusumi in a press release. “Lizards are the most closely-related animals to humans that can regenerate entire appendages. We discovered that they turn on at least 326 genes in specific regions of the regenerating tail, including genes involved in embryonic development, response to hormonal signals and wound healing. Interestingly, 302 of those 326 genes have already had homologues (similar genes) identified in mammalian DNA. The scientists also found that tail regeneration in lizards involves genetic activity along the entire tail, not just at the tip, which is the case for other animals with regenerative abilities, such as salamanders and zebrafish. Regeneration is not an instant process, said Elizabeth Hutchins, a co-author of the paper. In fact, it takes lizards more than 60 days to regenerate a functional tail. Lizards form a complex regenerating structure with cells growing into tissues at a number of sites along the tail.” (Source: ScienceAlert).
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 07:08:18 +0000
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