The characterization of neuropeptides in the Planarian Schmidtea mediterranea

描述(申请人提供)：人类再生丢失或严重受损组织的潜力有限。因此，许多重要的人类疾病都是不可逆的组织损伤的直接结果。虽然大多数人类组织不能再生，但许多动物有能力替换丢失或受损的组织。阐明调节动物再生的分子机制可能会为患有退行性疾病的人带来新的治疗策略。神经系统被广泛认为是多种动物再生的重要调节因素，但很少有研究确定影响这一过程的特定神经信号。神经肽是分泌的多肽荷尔蒙，是后生动物中种类最多的信号分子。之前对行星类动物的研究表明，神经肽可能会影响再生，但人们对扁虫中神经肽的多样性和类型知之甚少。为了验证神经肽影响再生的假说，将使用生物信息学和生化方法来鉴定实验上易驯化的稻纵卷蛾的神经肽原激素基因。这些基因的表达模式将通过整装原位杂交来确定，这些基因在干细胞调控和再生中的作用将通过RNA干扰来确定。这些研究将是对神经肽对再生很重要这一假说的重要检验，并将为未来研究多肽激素在动物生物学中的作用提供必要的基础。人类没有强大的机制来再生缺失或受损的组织和器官。甲藻可以再生其体内的所有组织，包括肠道、生殖器官和大脑。这些研究的目的是确定对稻瘟病菌组织再生至关重要的分子。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Humans possess limited potential for regenerating lost or severely damaged tissue. As a result, many important human diseases are the direct result of irreversible tissue damage. While most human tissues do not regenerate, many animals are capable of replacing missing or damaged tissues. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms that regulate animal regeneration may lead to novel treatment strategies for people living with degenerative diseases. The nervous system has been widely recognized as an important regulator of regeneration in a variety of animals, but few studies have identified the specific neural signals that influence this process. Neuropeptides are secreted peptide hormones and represent the most diverse class of signaling molecules in metazoans. Previous studies of planarians have suggested that neuropeptides may influence regeneration, yet little is known about the diversity and types of neuropeptides that are present in flatworms. To test the hypothesis that neuropeptides influence regeneration, bioinformatic and biochemical approaches will be used to identify neuropeptide prohormone genes in the experimentally tractable planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. The expression patterns of these genes will be determined by whole-mount in situ hybridization and the role of these genes in the regulation of stem cells and regeneration will be determined by RNA interference. These studies will be an important test of the hypothesis that neuropeptides are important for regeneration and will provide essential groundwork for future studies into the role of peptide hormones in animal biology. Humans do not possess robust mechanisms to regenerate missing or damaged tissues and organs. The planarian Schmidtea mediterranea can regenerate every tissue in its body including its intestine, reproductive organs and brain. These studies aim to identify molecules important for the regeneration of S. mediterranea tissues.