Colonial ascidians, or sea squirts, are invertebrate urochordates noted for their remarkable regenerative potential. One such organism, Botrylloides violaceus, is capable of undergoing whole body regeneration (WBR) from its peripheral vasculature. Studying the cellular mechanisms of regeneration in B. violaceus could provide insight into regenerative mechanisms in vertebrates. Specifically, since the Wnt signaling pathway has been consistently linked with regeneration in other organisms, we investigated its possible involvement in WBR for B. violaceus. Our results demonstrate that B. violaceus completed WBR an average of 4.5 days faster than control regenerates when treated with a Wnt agonist. This suggests that the Wnt pathway is involved in activating cellular signals that facilitate WBR in B. violaceus. We continue to investigate effects of other pharmacological manipulations of the Wnt pathway. We are also attempting to amplify possible Wnt homologs using PCR with degenerate primers derived from conserved Wnt sequences. Obtaining DNA sequence for B. violaceus Wnts will allow future experiments on Wnt gene expression during regeneration.Support or Funding InformationCalifornia Polytechnic State University, Biological Sciences Department; Frost Summer 2017 Undergraduate Research ProgramThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.