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Changes in regeneration-responsive enhancers shape regenerative capacities in vertebrates

  • Wei Wang
  • , Chi Kuo Hu
  • , An Zeng
  • , Dana Alegre
  • , Deqing Hu
  • , Kirsten Gotting
  • , Augusto Ortega Granillo
  • , Yongfu Wang
  • , Sofia Robb
  • , Robert Schnittker
  • , Shasha Zhang
  • , Dillon Alegre
  • , Hua Li
  • , Eric Ross
  • , Ning Zhang
  • , Anne Brunet
  • , Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado
  • Stowers Institute for Medical Research
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Stanford University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

164 Scopus citations

Abstract

Vertebrates vary in their ability to regenerate, and the genetic mechanisms underlying such disparity remain elusive. Comparative epigenomic profiling and single-cell sequencing of two related teleost fish uncovered species-specific and evolutionarily conserved genomic responses to regeneration. The conserved response revealed several regeneration-responsive enhancers (RREs), including an element upstream to inhibin beta A (inhba), a known effector of vertebrate regeneration. This element activated expression in regenerating transgenic fish, and its genomic deletion perturbed caudal fin regeneration and abrogated cardiac regeneration altogether. The enhancer is present in mammals, shares functionally essential activator protein 1 (AP-1) - binding motifs, and responds to injury, but it cannot rescue regeneration in fish. This work suggests that changes in AP-1 - enriched RREs are likely a crucial source of loss of regenerative capacities in vertebrates.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbereaaz3090
JournalScience
Volume369
Issue number6508
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2020

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