PUBLICATION
Genetic Reprogramming of Positional Memory in a Regenerating Appendage
- Authors
- Wang, Y.T., Tseng, T.L., Kuo, Y.C., Yu, J.K., Su, Y.H., Poss, K.D., Chen, C.H.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-191202-1
- Date
- 2019
- Source
- Current biology : CB 29(24): 4193-4207.e4 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Chen, Chen-Hui, Poss, Kenneth D., Tseng, Tzu-Lun
- Keywords
- forward genetics, pola2, positional information, regeneration, zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animal Fins/metabolism
- Animal Fins/physiology
- Animals
- Cell Lineage/genetics
- Cell Lineage/physiology
- DNA Polymerase I/genetics
- Organ Size/genetics*
- Regeneration/genetics*
- Regeneration/physiology*
- Signal Transduction/genetics
- Temperature
- Zebrafish/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- PubMed
- 31786062 Full text @ Curr. Biol.
Citation
Wang, Y.T., Tseng, T.L., Kuo, Y.C., Yu, J.K., Su, Y.H., Poss, K.D., Chen, C.H. (2019) Genetic Reprogramming of Positional Memory in a Regenerating Appendage. Current biology : CB. 29(24):4193-4207.e4.
Abstract
Certain vertebrates such as salamanders and zebrafish are able to regenerate complex tissues (e.g., limbs and fins) with remarkable fidelity. However, how positional information of the missing structure is recalled by appendage stump cells has puzzled researchers for centuries. Here, we report that sizing information for adult zebrafish tailfins is encoded within proliferating blastema cells during a critical period of regeneration. Using a chemical mutagenesis screen, we identified a temperature-sensitive allele of the gene encoding DNA polymerase alpha subunit 2 (pola2) that disrupts fin regeneration in zebrafish. Temperature shift assays revealed a 48-h window of regeneration, during which positional identities could be disrupted in pola2 mutants, leading to regeneration of miniaturized appendages. These fins retained memory of the new size in subsequent rounds of amputation and regeneration. Similar effects were observed upon transient genetic or pharmacological disruption of progenitor cell proliferation after plucking of zebrafish scales or head or tail amputation in amphioxus and annelids. Our results provide evidence that positional information in regenerating tissues is not hardwired but malleable, based on regulatory mechanisms that appear to be evolutionarily conserved across distantly related phyla.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping