CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR STUDIES ON ANNELID REGENERATION

愈合伤口和再生失去的身体部位的能力对许多动物来说至关重要。 由于再生和胚胎发生共享一个共同的发育终点，已经表明再生可能部分重新部署胚胎发育过程。 许多环节动物蠕虫具有广泛的再生能力和实验上易处理的胚胎，这为探索再生和胚胎发育之间的关系提供了极好的机会。 本研究的主要目的是在细胞和分子水平上研究环节动物Tubifex的再生和胚胎发生之间的关系。 研究将集中在环节动物的基本身体单位节的发展，特别注意神经系统。 该项目的三个具体目标是：1）确定再生节段中的细胞谱系贡献是否与胚胎产生的节段中的细胞谱系贡献相同; 2）确定通过终末细胞消融而异常的胚胎产生的节段是否可以通过再生产生正常的节段; 3）表征和比较再生和胚胎发生期间节段形成的分子过程。

The ability to heal wounds and regenerate lost body parts is of fundamental importance to many animals. Because regeneration and embryogenesis share a common developmental endpoint, it has been suggested that regeneration may in part re-deploy embryonic developmental processes. Many annelid worms have extensive regenerative abilities and experimentally tractable embryos, providing an excellent opportunity to explore the relationships between regenerative and embryonic development. The primary objective of this proposal is to investigate the relationship, at both the cellular and molecular levels, between regeneration and embryogenesis in the annelid Tubifex. Studies will focus on the development of segments, the fundamental body units of annelids, with particular attention to the nervous system. The three specific aims of the project are: 1) to determine whether cell lineage contributions in regenerated segments are the same as those in embryonically produced segments; 2) to determine whether embryonically produced segments made aberrant through teloblast ablation can produce normal segments through regeneration; 3) to characterize and compare the molecular processes of segment formation during regeneration and embryogenesis.