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Analyzing pERK Activation During Planarian Regeneration

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ERK Signaling

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1487))

Abstract

Planarians are an ideal model in which to study stem cell-based regeneration. After amputation, planarian pluripotent stem cells surrounding the wound proliferate to produce the regenerative blastema, in which they differentiate into the missing tissues and structures. Recent independent studies in planarians have shown that Smed-egfr-3, a gene encoding a homologue of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors, and DjerkA, which encodes an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), may control cell differentiation and blastema growth. However, because these studies were carried in two different planarian species, the relationship between these two genes remains unclear. We have optimized anti-pERK immunostaining in Schmidtea mediterranea using the original protocol developed in Dugesia japonica. Both protocols are reported here as most laboratories worldwide work with one of these two species. Using this protocol we have determined that Smed-egfr-3 appears to be necessary for pERK activation during planarian regeneration.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Owen Howard for advice on English style. F.C. is supported by grants BFU2012-31701 and BFU2015-65704-P from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad/FEDER (Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Genètica i Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, Edifici Prevosti, Planta 1, 08028, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain

    Susanna Fraguas & Francesc Cebrià

  2. Graduate School of Life Science, University of Hyogo, Ako-gun, Hyogo, Japan

    Yoshihiko Umesono

  3. Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Kiyokazu Agata

Authors
  1. Susanna Fraguas
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  2. Yoshihiko Umesono
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  3. Kiyokazu Agata
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  4. Francesc Cebrià
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesc Cebrià .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona-CSIC, Parc Científic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Gerardo Jimenez

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Fraguas, S., Umesono, Y., Agata, K., Cebrià, F. (2017). Analyzing pERK Activation During Planarian Regeneration. In: Jimenez, G. (eds) ERK Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1487. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6424-6_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6424-6_23

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6422-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6424-6

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