A functional genomics screen identifies an Importin-α homolog as a regulator of stem cell function and tissue patterning during planarian regeneration

BMC Genomics

Research Article

Matthew Hagen¹  Claudia J. Szeterlak²  Ricardo M. Zayas²  Jordana M. Henderson²  Martis W. Cowles²  Christa Anderson²  Kelly G. Ross²  Amy Hubert³ 

[1] Biological and Medical Informatics Research Center, San Diego State University, 92182-4614, San Diego, CA, USA;Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 92182-4614, San Diego, CA, USA;Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 92182-4614, San Diego, CA, USA;Department of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 62026-0001, Edwardsville, IL, USA;

关键词: Neoblasts;    Patterning;    Importin;    Functional genomics;    Schmidtea mediterranea;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12864-015-1979-1

 received in 2015-03-22, accepted in 2015-10-02,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPlanarians are renowned for their regenerative capacity and are an attractive model for the study of adult stem cells and tissue regeneration. In an effort to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying planarian regeneration, we performed a functional genomics screen aimed at identifying genes involved in this process in Schmidtea mediterranea. MethodsWe used microarrays to detect changes in gene expression in regenerating and non-regenerating tissues in planarians regenerating one side of the head and followed this with high-throughput screening by in situ hybridization and RNAi to characterize the expression patterns and function of the differentially expressed genes.ResultsAlong with five previously characterized genes (Smed-cycD, Smed-morf41/mrg-1, Smed-pdss2/dlp1, Smed-slbp, and Smed-tph), we identified 20 additional genes necessary for stem cell maintenance (Smed-sart3, Smed-smarcc-1, Smed-espl1, Smed-rrm2b-1, Smed-rrm2b-2, Smed-dkc1, Smed-emg1, Smed-lig1, Smed-prim2, Smed-mcm7, and a novel sequence) or general regenerative capability (Smed-rbap46/48-2, Smed-mcm2, Smed-ptbp1, and Smed-fen-1) or that caused tissue-specific defects upon knockdown (Smed-ddc, Smed-gas8, Smed-pgbd4, and Smed-b9d2). We also found that a homolog of the nuclear transport factor Importin-α plays a role in stem cell function and tissue patterning, suggesting that controlled nuclear import of proteins is important for regeneration.ConclusionsThrough this work, we described the roles of several previously uncharacterized genes in planarian regeneration and implicated nuclear import in this process. We have additionally created an online database to house our in situ and RNAi data to make it accessible to the planarian research community.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Hubert et al. 2015