What makes flatworms go to pieces

Holstein, Thomas W.

doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02376-z

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14 August 2019

What makes flatworms go to pieces

Flatworms called planarians can break off fragments of themselves that regenerate to form new, complete worms. The molecular cues that regulate the frequency of such fission events have been revealed.

Thomas W. Holstein⁰

Thomas W. Holstein
1. Thomas W. Holstein is in the Department of Molecular Evolution and Genomics, Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
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Understanding how tissues and organs can regenerate requires an appreciation of the mechanisms and factors that organize cells and tissues, both in space and through time. Planarian flatworms are a widely used model for studying such pattern formation because pieces of these animals that are cut off can regrow missing body parts and form complete worms. Planarians also have a self-scission behaviour called fission — they stretch and contract their tail tissue, which leads to detachment of parts of their posterior body that then grow into clones. Whether or not fission occurs depends on the size of the parent worm, but the underlying molecular and cellular processes have not been well understood. Writing in Nature, Arnold et al.¹ establish a method to reliably induce fission in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, and show that cell-signalling pathways involving the proteins Wnt and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) are key regulators of this process.

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Nature 572, 593-594 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02376-z

References

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[1] Arnold, C. P., Benham-Pyle, B. W., Lange, J. J., Wood, C. J. & Sánchez Alvarado, A. Nature 572, 655–659 (2019).
Article Google Scholar

[2] Steinhart, Z. & Angers, S. Development 145, dev146589 (2018).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[3] Wiese, K. E., Nusse, R. & van Amerongen, R. Development 145, dev165902 (2018).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[4] Gurley, K. A., Rink, J. C. & Sánchez Alvarado, A. Science 319, 323–327 (2008).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[5] Niehrs, C. Development 137, 845–857 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[6] Stuckemann, T. et al. Dev. Cell 40, 248–263 (2017).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[7] Best, J. B., Goodman, A. B. & Pigon, A. Science 164, 565–566 (1969).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[8] Malinowski, P. T. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 10888–10893 (2017).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[9] Petersen, C. P. & Reddien, P. W. Cell 139, 1056–1068 (2009).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[10] Molina, M. D., Salo, E. & Cebria, F. Dev. Biol. 311, 79–94 (2007).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[11] Collins, J. J. III et al. PLoS Biol. 8, e1000509 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[12] Cowles, M. W., Omuro, K. C., Stanley, B. N., Quintanilla, C. G. & Zayas, R. M. PLoS Genet. 10, e1004746 (2014).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[13] Kobayashi, C., Saito, Y., Ogawa, K. & Agata, K. Dev. Biol. 306, 714–724 (2007).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[14] Reddien, P. W. Cell 175, 327–345 (2018).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[15] Sikes, J. M. & Bely, A. E. Dev. Biol. 338, 86–97 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[16] Cannon, J. T. et al. Nature 530, 89–93 (2016).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[17] Zattara, E. E. & Bely, A. E. Evol. Dev. 13, 80–95 (2011).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[18] Burton, P. M. & Finnerty, J. R. Dev. Genes Evol. 219, 79–87 (2009).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[19] Chapman, J. A. et al. Nature 464, 592–596 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[20] Petersen, H. O. et al. Mol. Biol. Evol. 32, 1928–1947 (2015).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

What makes flatworms go to pieces

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