A robust transcriptional program in newts undergoing multiple events of lens regeneration throughout their lifespan
Konstantinos Sousounis,
Feng Qi,
Manisha C Yadav,
José Luis Millán,
Fubito Toyama,
Chikafumi Chiba,
Yukiko Eguchi,
Goro Eguchi,
Panagiotis A Tsonis
Affiliations
Konstantinos Sousounis
Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, United States
Feng Qi
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute at Lake Nona, Orlando, United States
Manisha C Yadav
Sanford Children's Health Research Center, Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, United States
José Luis Millán
Sanford Children's Health Research Center, Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, United States
Fubito Toyama
Graduate School of Engineering, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, Japan
Chikafumi Chiba
Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, Japan
Yukiko Eguchi
National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes for Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
Goro Eguchi
National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes for Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
Panagiotis A Tsonis
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
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.
