Protein synthesis pattern analysis in the regenerating salamander limb

Abstract

Retinoic acid (RA) evokes pattern duplication in the regenerating salamander limb. Interestingly, it also enhances dedifferentiation in the regenerate by the morphological, histological and biochemical criteria. To examine whether there is any correlation between the RA-evoked pattern duplication and de novo protein synthetic profile in the regenerating salamander limb, especially during dedifferentiation, we analyzed stage-specific protein synthesis pattern in the normal and RA-treated regenerating limbs by metabolic labeling followed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. In the regenerating limbs without RA treatment, a few hundred kinds of proteins were found to be synthesized at the stage of wound healing and the total number of protein synthesized increased greatly as regeneration proceeded. The same trend was also observed in the RA-treated regenerating limbs. Interestingly, some protein spots were noted to be either newly synthesized or highly expressed by the RA treatment especially at the stage of dedifferentiation. The results shows that the enhancement of dedifferentiation state after the RA treatment correlates well with the protein synthesis profile, and suggest that those proteins are important for the RA-evoked pattern duplication in the regenerating limbs of salamander.