Survey of the differences between regenerative and non-regenerative animals

Abstract

To investigate the boundaries between regenerative and non-regenerative animals, we first survey regenerative ability across animal phyla from sponges to chordates (including mammals). There are both regenerative and non-regenerative animals in each phylum. The cells participating in regeneration also vary among different species. Thus, it is hard to find clear rules concerning regeneration ability across the animal kingdom, suggesting that it is not useful to compare the difference of regenerative ability across phyla to seek the boundary between regenerative and non-regenerative animals. Instead, if we carefully compare the differences of regenerative ability between closely related species within each phylum and accumulate these differences at the cellular molecular levels, we may be able to clarify the boundary between regenerative and non-regenerative animals. Here we introduce our comparative analysis of cellular events after amputation of lower jaws between frogs and newts. Then we propose that such comparative analyses using closely related species within the same phylum should be accumulated to understand the boundary between regenerative and non-regenerative animals in order to apply this understanding for realizing regenerative medicine in the future.