Molecular mechanisms of limb regeneration: insights from regenerating legs of the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus.

Molecular mechanisms of limb regeneration: insights from regenerating legs of the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. Int J Dev Biol. 2018;62(6-7-8):559-569 Authors: Bando T, Mito T, Hamada Y, Ishimaru Y, Noji S, Ohuchi H Abstract This review summarizes recent advances in leg regeneration research, focusing on the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. Recent studies have revealed molecular mechanisms on blastema formation, establishment of positional information, and epigenetic regulation during leg regeneration. Especially, these studies have provided molecular bases in classical conceptual models such as the polar coordinate model, the intercalation model, the boundary model, the steepness model, etc., which were proposed to interpret regeneration processes of the cockroach legs. When a leg is amputated, a blastema is formed through the activation of the Janus-kinase (Jak)/Signal-Transduction-and-Activator-of-Transcription (STAT) pathway. Subsequently, the Hedgehog/Wingless/Decapentaplegic/Epidermal-growth-factor pathways instruct distalization in the blastema, designated as the molecular boundary model. Downstream targets of this pathway are transcription factors Distal-less (Dll) and dachshund (dac), functioning as key regulators of proximodistal pattern formation. Dll and dac specify the distal and proximal regions in the blastema, respectively, through the regulation of tarsal patterning genes. The expression of leg patterning genes during reg...
Source: International Journal of Developmental Biology - Category: Biology Tags: Int J Dev Biol Source Type: research