title: A robust transcriptional program in newts undergoing multiple events of lens regeneration throughout their lifespan.
abstract: Newts have the ability to repeatedly regenerate their lens even during ageing. However, it is unclear whether this regeneration reflects an undisturbed genetic activity. To answer this question, we compared the transcriptomes of lenses, irises and tails from aged newts that had undergone lens regeneration 19 times with the equivalent tissues from young newts that had never experienced lens regeneration. Our analysis indicates that repeatedly regenerated lenses showed a robust transcriptional program comparable to young never-regenerated lenses. In contrast, the tail, which was never regenerated, showed gene expression signatures of ageing. Our analysis strongly suggests that, with respect to gene expression, the regenerated lenses have not deviated from a robust transcriptional program even after multiple events of regeneration throughout the life of the newt. In addition, our study provides a new paradigm in biology, and establishes the newt as a key model for the study of regeneration in relation to ageing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, United States.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sousounis
authors.affiliation: Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute at Lake Nona, Orlando, United States.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Sanford Children's Health Research Center, Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, United States.
authors.forename: Manisha C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: Sanford Children's Health Research Center, Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, United States.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Millán
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Engineering, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, Japan.
authors.forename: Fubito
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Toyama
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, Japan.
authors.forename: Chikafumi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chiba
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes for Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes for Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Goro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, United States.|Sanford Children's Health Research Center, Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, United States.
authors.forename: Panagiotis A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tsonis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000502:physiology*; D012038:Regeneration; D012455:Salamandridae / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
keywords: ageing; developmental biology; newt; regeneration; stem cells