Surprising roles for muscle in tissue regeneration, study finds

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsFile -- Cambridge, MA. () - A team of researchers at Whitehead has illuminated an important role for different subtypes of muscle cells in orchestrating the process of tissue regeneration. In a paper published in the November 22 issue of Nature, they reveal that a subtype of muscle fibers in flatworms is required for triggering the activity of genes that initiate the regeneration program. Notably, in the absence of these muscles, regeneration fails to proceed. Another type of muscle, they report, is required for giving regenerated tissue the proper pattern -- for example, forming one head instead of two.

“One of the central mysteries in organ and tissue regeneration is, how do animals initiate all of the cellular and molecular steps that lead to regeneration?” says senior author Peter Reddien, a member of Whitehead Institute, professor of biology at MIT, and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “We’ve helped answer this question by revealing a surprising molecular program that operates within a subgroup of muscle cells that helps establish the molecular information required for …

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(2017-12-04), Surprising roles for muscle in tissue regeneration, study finds, NewsFile, 209, ISSN: 0000-0000, BUTTER® ID: 014802860