WIRED Science blog, April 29th, 2010.
A worm named Schmidtea mediterranea has the unique ability to regenerate not just its body, but also its head and brain. Now, scientists studying the worm have discovered one of the genes that allows it to accomplish this amazing feat.
The gene, called “smed-prep,” regulates the location and structure of the flatworm’s brain during regeneration. When the gene is absent, the worm forms a stump with random junk from other parts of its body, but no brain. When it’s expressed in other areas of the body, heads can be made to sprout from anywhere.
“One of the main goals in the lab was to understand the mechanisms that allowed this worm to regenerate its head, brain and sensory organs,” said molecular biologist Aziz Aboobaker of the University of Nottingham, lead author of the paper published in PLoS GeneticsApril 22. “It’s a big problem because you have to make this all from the old tissue. The cells have to mobilize, migrate to the right place and differentiate.” Read More >