Project description:Background: Freshwater planarians are well known for their regenerative abilities. Less well known is how planarians maintain spatial patterning in long-lived adult animals or how they re-pattern tissues during regeneration. HOX genes are good candidates to regulate planarian spatial patterning, yet the full complement or genomic clustering of planarian HOX genes has not yet been described, primarily because only a few have been detectable by in situ hybridization, and none have given morphological phenotypes when knocked down by RNAi. Results: Because the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea (S. med) is unsegmented, appendage-less, and morphologically simple, it has been proposed that it may have a simplified HOX gene complement. Here we argue against this hypothesis and show that S. med has a total of 13 HOX genes, which represent homologs to all major axial categories, and can be detected by whole-mount in situ hybridization using a highly-sensitive method. In addition, we show that planarian HOX genes do not cluster in the genome, yet 5/13 have retained aspects of axially-restricted expression. Finally, we confirm HOX gene axial expression by RNA-deep-sequencing 6 anterior-to-posterior “zones” of the animal, which we provide as a dataset to the community to discover other axially-restricted transcripts. Conclusions: Freshwater planarians have an unappreciated HOX gene complexity, with all major axial categories represented. However, we conclude based on adult expression patterns that planarians have a derived body plan and their asexual lifestyle may have allowed for large changes in HOX expression from the last common ancestor between arthropods, flatworms, and vertebrates. Using our in situ method and axial zone RNAseq data, it should be possible to further understand the pathways that pattern the anterior-posterior axis of adult planarians.
Project description:The transcriptome of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea is not well characterized. We have used RNA-Seq to characterize the transcriptome in both sexual and asexual strains of S. mediterranea from both untreated and irradiated animals. Moreover, we have performed RNA-Seq on RNA purified from FACS sorted neoblasts and differentiated cells. Together these studies expand our understanding of the planarian transcriptome and have identified strain-specific, neoblast-specific, and conserved transcripts. RNA-Seq was performed on RNA isolated from untreated and irradiated S. mediterranea animals from both the sexual and asexual strains, on FACS purified X1 neoblasts, X2 neoblasts, and Xins differentiated cells. One of the raw data files for GSM847465 is missing. The fasta file is provided at http://genome.vcell.uchc.edu/GenomeData02/Graveley_Lab_Public_Data/Planarian/S.mediterranea_SexNIRmRNA3.fa.gz
Project description:Identification of differentially expressed genes in intestinal phagocytes, compared to non-intestinal cells in Schmidtea mediterranea. Total RNA was isolated from either intestinal phagocytes or non-intestinal cells (control). Four independent biological replicates were conducted with two dye swaps. Labeled targets were hybridized to two oligonucleotide arrays on which 11,521 planarian transcripts were represented.
Project description:The transcriptome of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea is not well characterized. We have used RNA-Seq to characterize the transcriptome in both sexual and asexual strains of S. mediterranea from both untreated and irradiated animals. Moreover, we have performed RNA-Seq on RNA purified from FACS sorted neoblasts and differentiated cells. Together these studies expand our understanding of the planarian transcriptome and have identified strain-specific, neoblast-specific, and conserved transcripts.
Project description:Investigation of differences in gene expression between two strains of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. The sexual strain are cross-fertilizing hermaphrodites with reproductive organs that develop post-embryonically and the asexual strain reproduces exclusively by transverse fission and fail to develop reproductive organs.
Project description:Investigation of differences in gene expression between two strains of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. The sexual strain are cross-fertilizing hermaphrodites with reproductive organs that develop post-embryonically and the asexual strain reproduces exclusively by transverse fission and fail to develop reproductive organs. A two chip study using total RNA recovered from asexual and sexual animals. Each chip measures the expression level of 16,797 ESTs from S. mediterranea with 10 60-mer probe pairs (PM/MM) per gene, with two-fold technical redundancy.
Project description:RNA sequencing of single cells from the midline posterior tip of the tail and posterior blastema in planarian Schmidtea mediterranea identified new posterior-pole enriched genes
Project description:The head-regeneration transcriptome of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea ArrayExpress Release Date: 2011-07-15 Publication Title: The head-regeneration transcriptome of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea Publication Author List: Thomas Sandmann, Matthias C. Vogg, Suthira Owlarn, Michael Boutros, and Kerstin Bartscherer Person Roles: submitter Person Last Name: Sandmann Person First Name: Thomas Person Mid Initials: Person Email: t.sandmann@dkfz.de Person Phone: +49 6221 42 1954 Person Address: Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 580, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany Person Affiliation: German Cancer Research Center
Project description:The freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea is well known by its amazing regeneration capabilities thanks to the presence of adult stem cells, the neoblasts, the only proliferative cells and responsible for the differentiation in all the cell types of the organism. This study involves the creation of separated transcript libraries from both, isolated neoblasts and differentiated cells, as well as their posterior sequencing and quantification through Digital Gene Expression (DGE) for the characterization of the neoblast transcriptome.
