Mexican salamander holds key to limb regeneration

Many lower organisms retain the miraculous ability to regenerate form and function of almost any tissue after injury. Humans share many of our genes with these organisms, but our capacity for regeneration is limited. Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, are studying the genetics of these organisms to find out how regenerative mechanisms might be activated in humans.

The ability of animals to regenerate body parts has always fascinated scientists but until the advent of sophisticated tools for genetic and computational analysis, they had no way of studying the genetic machinery that enables regeneration.

Using such tools, scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory have identified genetic regulators governing regeneration that are common across species.

Stand out species

In the study, MDI Biological Laboratory scientists Benjamin King, PhD, and Voot Yin, PhD, identified these common genetic regulators in three regenerative species: the zebrafish, a common aquarium fish originally from India; the axolotl, a salamander native to the lakes of Mexico; and the bichir, a ray-finned fish from Africa.

The discovery of genetic mechanisms common to all three of these species, which diverged on the evolutionary tree about 420 million years ago, suggests that these mechanisms aren’t specific to any one individual species, but have been conserved by nature through evolution.

The zebrafish, a common aquarium fish originally from India

The discovery of the common genetic regulators is expected to serve as a platform to inform new hypotheses about the genetic mechanisms underlying limb regeneration. The discovery also represents a major advance in understanding why many tissues in humans, including limb tissue, regenerate poorly, and how to possibly manipulate those mechanisms with drug therapies.

From Science Fiction to reality

“Limb regeneration in humans may sound like science fiction, but it’s within the realm of possibility,” said Yin. “The fact that we’ve identified a genetic signature for limb regeneration in three different species with three different types of appendages suggests that nature has created a common genetic instruction manual governing regeneration that may be shared by all forms of animal life, including humans.”

The bichir, a ray-finned fish from Africa

In particular, the scientists studied the formation of a mass of cells, a blastema, a reservoir for regenerating tissues. The formation of a blastema is the critical first step in the regeneration process. Using sophisticated genetic sequencing technology, King and Yin identified a common set of genes that are controlled by a shared network of genetic regulators known as microRNAs.

The study also has implications for wound healing, which, because it also requires the replacement of lost or damaged tissues, involves similar genetic mechanisms. With a greater understanding of these mechanisms, treatments could potentially be developed to speed wound healing, thus reducing pain, decreasing risk of infection all with patients recovering more quickly.

Another potential application is development of more sophisticated prosthetic devices. When a limb is amputated the nerves at the site of amputation can be damaged. The repair and regeneration of these nerves could potentially enable the development of more sophisticated prostheses that could interface with these nerves, allowing for greater control.

Regrowing human limbs

While speedier wound-healing and improved prostheses may be on the nearer term horizon, the ability to regrow limbs is a long way off.