The researchers said the pathway they identified could be applied to different tissue types and play a significant role in advancing regeneration in vertebrates.
The team found that a mouse’s failure to regenerate stemmed from an inability to produce sufficient retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A that regulates what cell type emerges during a cell’s development and tissue repair.
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This was because mice had lost the DNA “remote controls” that switch on the gene that encodes an enzyme to convert vitamin A into retinoic acid, they found.
By turning on the “evolutionarily disabled genetic switch”, the scientists could reactivate the regeneration of the mouse ear.
“Our study identified a genetic switch involved in the evolution of regeneration,” said the researchers from the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing, the BGI-Research genomics institute and the Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture. They published their research in the peer-reviewed journal Science on Thursday.
Some animals possess the power of regeneration. Salamanders, for example, can regrow tissues, organs and limbs, while teleost fish can regenerate nervous tissue and restore function following injuries to their central nervous system.
But mammals, including humans, have limited capacity to rejuvenate tissue and organs.
