TY  - JOUR
TI  - Planarian regeneration: achievements and future directions after 20 years of research 
AU  - Saló, Emili
AU  - Abril, JosepF.
AU  - Adell, Teresa
AU  - Cebriá, Francesc
AU  - Eckelt, Kay
AU  - Fernández-Taboada, Enrique
AU  - Handberg-Thorsager, Mette
AU  - Iglesias, Marta
AU  - Molina, M. Dolores
AU  - Rodríguez-Esteban, Gustavo
T2  - The International Journal of Developmental Biology
AB  - Planarians can undergo dramatic changes  in body size and regenerate their entire body plan from small pieces after  cutting. This remarkable morphological plasticity has made them an excellent  model in which to analyze phenomena such as morphogenesis, restoration of  pattern and polarity, control of tissue proportions and tissue homeostasis.  They have a unique population of pluripotent stem cells in the adult that can  give rise to all differentiated cell types, including the germ cells. These  cellular characteristics provide an excellent opportunity to study the  mechanisms involved in the maintenance and differentiation of cell populations  in intact and regenerating animals. Until recently, the planarian model  system lacked opportunities for genetic analysis; however, this handicap was  overcome in the last decade through the development of new molecular methods  which have been successfully applied to planarians. These techniques have  allowed analysis of the temporal and spatial expression of genes, as well as  interference with gene function, generating the first phenotypes by loss or  gain of function. Finally, the sequencing of the planarian genome has  provided the essential tools for an in-depth analysis of the genomic  regulation of this model system. In this review, we provide an overview of  planarians as a model system for research into development and regeneration  and describe new lines of investigation in this area. 
PY  - 2009
DO  - 10.1387/ijdb.072414es
VL  - 53
IS  - 8-9-10
SP  - 1317
EP  - 1327
J2  - Int. J. Dev. Biol.
LA  - en
SN  - 0214-6282
SN  - 1696-3547
UR  - https://ijdb.ehu.eus/article/072414es
Y2  - 2024/04/28/05:10:12
ER  -