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DjPiwi-1, a member of the PAZ-Piwi gene family, defines a subpopulation of planarian stem cells

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Abstract

Planarian regeneration, based upon totipotent stem cells, the neoblasts, provides a unique opportunity to study in vivo the molecular program that defines a stem cell. In this study, we report the identification of DjPiwi-1, a planarian homologue of Drosophila Piwi. Expression analysis showed that DjPiwi-1 transcripts are preferentially accumulated in small cells distributed along the midline of the dorsal parenchyma. DjPiwi-1 transcripts were not detectable after X-ray irradiation by whole mount in situ hybridization. Real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed the significant reduction of DjPiwi-1 expression after X-ray treatment. However, the presence of residual DjPiwi-1 transcription suggests that, although the majority of DjPiwi-1-positive cells can be neoblasts, this gene is also expressed in differentiating/differentiated cells. During regeneration DjPiwi-1-positive cells reorganize along the midline of the stump and no accumulation of hybridization signal was observed either in the blastema area or in the parenchymal region beneath the blastema. DjPiwi-1-positive cells, as well as the DjMCM2-expressing neoblasts located along the midline and those spread all over the parenchyma, showed a lower tolerance to X-ray with respect to the DjMCM2-expressing neoblasts distributed along the lateral lines of the parenchyma. Taken together, these findings suggest the presence of different neoblast subpopulations in planarians.

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Acknowledgements

We are especially grateful to Kiyokazu Agata for providing us with the planarian GI clonal strain and for the in situ hybridization protocol. We also thank Claudio Ghezzani for technical assistance with TEM and Mrs. Tamar Shanks for English revision. Grant Sponsor: Programmi di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale, MIUR, Italy. Leonardo Rossi and Alessandra Salvetti have equally contributed to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Morfologia Umana e Biologia Applicata, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Leonardo Rossi, Alessandra Salvetti, Annalisa Lena & Vittorio Gremigni

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Renata Batistoni & Paolo Deri

  3. Dipartimento di Biologia delle Piante Agrarie, Sezione di Genetica, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Claudio Pugliesi

  4. Istituto di Biologia e Biotecnologie Agricole, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy

    Elena Loreti

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  1. Leonardo Rossi
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  2. Alessandra Salvetti
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  3. Annalisa Lena
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  4. Renata Batistoni
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  8. Vittorio Gremigni
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Correspondence to Vittorio Gremigni.

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Communicated by M.Q. Martindale

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Rossi, L., Salvetti, A., Lena, A. et al. DjPiwi-1, a member of the PAZ-Piwi gene family, defines a subpopulation of planarian stem cells. Dev Genes Evol 216, 335–346 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-006-0060-0

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