Abstract
Planarians provide a relatively simple model system in which to study stem cell dynamics and regenerative phenomena. As with other systems understanding the dynamics of stem cell and stem cell progeny is crucial in order to get at the molecular mechanisms orchestrating stem cell biology. Planarians have an abundant adult stem cell population that can be observed using Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS). This approach allows different subpopulations of stem cells and their progeny to be monitored and sorted for downstream studies in response to different regenerative scenarios, drug treatments, or RNAi knockdown of genes required for regenerative events.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agata K (2003) Regeneration and gene regulation in planarians. Curr Opin Genet Dev 13:492–6
Brockes JP, Kumar A (2008) Comparative aspects of animal regeneration. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 24:525–49
Reddien PW, Sanchez AA (2004) Fundamentals of planarian regeneration. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 20:725–57
Newmark PA, Reddien PW, Cebria F, Sanchez AA (2003) Ingestion of bacterially expressed double-stranded RNA inhibits gene expression in planarians. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100(Suppl 1):11861–5
Reddien PW, Bermange AL, Murfitt KJ, Jennings JR, Sanchez AA (2005) Identification of genes needed for regeneration, stem cell function, and tissue homeostasis by systematic gene perturbation in planaria. Dev Cell 8:635–49
Sanchez AA (2004) Regeneration and the need for simpler model organisms. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 359:759–63
Wenemoser D, Reddien PW (2010) Planarian regeneration involves distinct stem cell responses to wounds and tissue absence. Dev Biol 344:979–91
Salo E (2006) The power of regeneration and the stem-cell kingdom: freshwater planarians (Platyhelminthes). Bioessays 28:546–59
Rossi L, Salvetti A, Marincola FM, Lena A, Deri P et al (2007) Deciphering the molecular machinery of stem cells: a look at the neoblast gene expression profile. Genome Biol 8:R62
Eisenhoffer GT, Kang H, Sanchez AA (2008) Molecular analysis of stem cells and their descendants during cell turnover and regeneration in the Planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. Cell Stem Cell 3:327–39
Blythe MJ, Kao D, Malla S, Rowsell J, Wilson R et al (2010) A dual platform approach to transcript discovery for the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea to establish RNAseq for stem cell and regeneration biology. PLoS One 5:e15617
Asami M, Nakatsuka T, Hayashi T, Kuo K, Kagawa H, Agata K (2002) Cultivation and characterization of planarian neuronal cells isolated by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). Zoolog Sci 19:1257–65
Hayashi T, Asami M, Higuchi S, Shibata N, Agata K (2006) Isolation of planarian X-ray-sensitive stem cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Dev Growth Differ 48:371–80
Scimone ML, Meisel J, Reddien PW (2010) The Mi-2-like Smed-CHD4 gene is required for stem cell differentiation in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. Development 137:1231–41
Hayashi T, Shibata N, Okumura R, Kudome T, Nishimura O et al (2010) Single-cell gene profiling of planarian stem cells using fluorescent activated cell sorting and its “index sorting” function for stem cell research. Dev Growth Differ 52:131–44
Gonzalez-Estevez C, Arseni V, Thambyrajah RS, Felix DA, Aboobaker AA (2009) Diverse miRNA spatial expression patterns suggest important roles in homeostasis and regeneration in planarians. Int J Dev Biol 53:493–505
Salo E, Baguna J (1984) Regeneration and pattern formation in planarians. I. The pattern of mitosis in anterior and posterior regeneration in Dugesia (G) tigrina, and a new proposal for blastema formation. J Embryol Exp Morphol 83:63–80
Evans DJ, Owlarn S, Tejada Romero B, Chen C, Aboobaker AA (2011). Combining classical and molecular approaches elaborates on the complexity of mechanisms underpinning anterior regeneration. PLoS One 6(11): e27927
Acknowledgements
We thank members of Europlannet for help with establishing Planarian FACS analysis in our group.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Romero, B.T., Evans, D.J., Aboobaker, A.A. (2012). FACS Analysis of the Planarian Stem Cell Compartment as a Tool to Understand Regenerative Mechanisms. In: Mace, K., Braun, K. (eds) Progenitor Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 916. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-980-8_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-980-8_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-979-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-980-8
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols