A histone demethylase is necessary for regeneration in zebrafish

Abstract

Urodele amphibians and teleost fish regenerate amputated body parts via a process called epimorphic regeneration. A hallmark of this phenomenon is the reactivation of silenced developmental regulatory genes that previously functioned during embryonic patterning. We demonstrate that histone modifications silence promoters of numerous genes involved in zebrafish caudal fin regeneration. Silenced developmental regulatory genes contain bivalent me 3 K4/me 3 K27 H3 histone modifications created by the concerted action of Polycomb (PcG) and Trithorax histone methyltransferases. During regeneration, this silent, bivalent chromatin is converted to an active state by loss of repressive me 3 K27 H3 modifications, occurring at numerous genes that appear to function during regeneration. Loss-of-function studies demonstrate a requirement for a me 3 K27 H3 demethylase during fin regeneration. These results indicate that histone modifications at discreet genomic positions may serve as a crucial regulatory event in the initiation of fin regeneration.chromatin ͉ polycomb

Analysis of RNA-Seq data reveals involvement of JAK/STAT signalling during leg regeneration in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus

“…Supplementary material Tables S5 and S6 list transcription and epigenetic factors, respectively, that were upregulated in RLs, which could be key factors for cell fate determination and reprogramming (Maki et al, 2010;McClure and Schubiger, 2008;Meissner, 2010;Onder et al, 2012;Rao et al, 2009;Repiso et al, 2011;Stewart et al, 2009). …”

Dedifferentiation and the role of sall4 in reprogramming and patterning during amphibian limb regeneration

“…Dynamic changes in histone modifications occur during dedifferentiation of the dorsal and ventral irises during newt lens regeneration (Maki et al, 2009). A crucial early event in the initiation of zebrafish fin regeneration involves histone modifications (Stewart et al, 2009). SALL4 is one of the pluripotency factors that regulate epigenetic modifiers in human ESC Hemberger et al, 2009).…”

Inducible genetic system for the axolotl

“…Understanding how salamanders regenerate limbs should provide critical insight into efforts to stimulate these processes in vertebrates that do not regenerate limbs, yet the list of modern molecular genetic tools that can be applied to salamanders is currently very short. Other model systems with a much more sophisticated experimental toolkit, such as zebrafish, have provided valuable clues to the molecular underpinnings of vertebrate appendage regeneration (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). However, fin regeneration in teleost fish (such as zebrafish) is not completely analogous to limb development or regeneration.…”

“…For example, a signaling pathway may be necessary after wound healing to create a blastema, but dispensable once the blastema is generated. Since the publication of the first transgenic axolotl, a line of animals constitutively expressing EGFP in all cell types, in 2006, only one new instance of axolotl 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tabin@genetics.med.harvard.…”