The capability to regenerate lost or damaged organs is severely limited in humans and most vertebrate animals. Other animals, in contrast, have remarkable regenerating abilities. Among these are the echinoderms, a group of animals closely related to vertebrates. We have been using the sea cucumber Holothuria glaberrima as a model system to study intestinal regeneration. These animals can regenerate their complete digestive tract following a process of auto-evisceration. Our laboratory has characterized the intestinal regeneration process and the associated cellular events. In recent years we have begun to identify genes that might control different aspects of the regeneration process by using molecular tools, particularly the construction and analysis of an EST database and the use of microarrays. These experiments have led to the identification of candidate genes differentially expressed during intestinal regeneration. The present proposal focuses on 20 of these genes. We propose to use these candidate genes to study the molecular control of intestinal regeneration. We intend to validate their differential expression and characterize their sequence, spatial and temporal expression patterns, using in silico methods as well as QRT-PCR, Western blotting, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. This will lead to determining the cellular or tissue component where they are being expressed and a putative function for the genes. More importantly, we will determine the gene's function by knock-down experiments using interference RNA (RNAi) in conjunction with various markers that serve to determine the cellular processes that occur during regeneration such as: changes in tissue cellular components and morphology, formation of the regeneration blastema, intestinal lumen, enteric nervous system, and tissue innervation, as well as changes in cell populations, migration, division, death, dedifferentiation, and growth among others. Our results will help discover novel genes associated with intestinal regeneration and characterize their expression to particular cells and regenerative events. Moreover, their function will be determined, and mechanisms of how they might control the intestinal regeneration process will be identified. We expect that our experiments will make available information, that can be used to study the limitations of vertebrate regenerative capacities and that will serve as the basis for the development of new therapeutics/drugs that modulate regenerative processes.
| Viera-Vera, Jorge; García-Arrarás, José E (2018) Molecular characterization and gene expression patterns of retinoid receptors, in normal and regenerating tissues of the sea cucumber, Holothuria glaberrima. Gene 654:23-35 |
| Rosado-Olivieri, Edwin A; Ramos-Ortiz, Gibram A; Hernández-Pasos, Josué et al. (2017) A START-domain-containing protein is a novel marker of nervous system components of the sea cucumber Holothuria glaberrima. Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol 214:57-65 |
| Mashanov, Vladimir S; Zueva, Olga R; García-Arrarás, José E (2017) Inhibition of cell proliferation does not slow down echinoderm neural regeneration. Front Zool 14:12 |
| Hernández-Pasos, Josué; Valentín-Tirado, Griselle; García-Arrarás, José E (2017) Melanotransferrin: New Homolog Genes and Their Differential Expression during Intestinal Regeneration in the Sea Cucumber Holothuria glaberrima. J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol 328:259-274 |
| Díaz-Balzac, Carlos A; Lázaro-Peña, María I; Vázquez-Figueroa, Lionel D et al. (2016) Holothurian Nervous System Diversity Revealed by Neuroanatomical Analysis. PLoS One 11:e0151129 |
| Vázquez-Vélez, Gabriel E; Rodríguez-Molina, José F; Quiñones-Frías, Mónica C et al. (2016) A Proteoglycan-Like Molecule Offers Insights Into Ground Substance Changes During Holothurian Intestinal Regeneration. J Histochem Cytochem 64:381-93 |
| Bello, Samir A; Abreu-Irizarry, Ricardo J; García-Arrarás, José E (2015) Primary cell cultures of regenerating holothurian tissues. Methods Mol Biol 1189:283-97 |
| Mashanov, Vladimir S; Zueva, Olga R; García-Arrarás, José E (2015) Myc regulates programmed cell death and radial glia dedifferentiation after neural injury in an echinoderm. BMC Dev Biol 15:24 |
| Mashanov, Vladimir S; Zueva, Olga R; García-Arrarás, José E (2015) Expression of pluripotency factors in echinoderm regeneration. Cell Tissue Res 359:521-536 |
| Díaz-Balzac, Carlos A; Vázquez-Figueroa, Lionel D; García-Arrarás, José E (2014) Novel markers identify nervous system components of the holothurian nervous system. Invert Neurosci 14:113-25 |
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