Ependymin, a gene involved in regeneration and neuroplasticity in vertebrates, is overexpressed during regeneration in the echinoderm Holothuria glaberrima

Distinct profiles of expressed sequence tags during intestinal regeneration in the sea cucumberHolothuria glaberrima

“…Moreover, genes that were previously reported in the 7dpe (A) such as actin, ferritin, thymosin, and QM protein were also identified in the 7dpe (B) dataset as well. In addition, genes such as collagen, serum amyloid, and ependymin, which were previously found by Northern blot and/or RT-PCR analyses to be expressed at 7dpe (49,51,56), were identified in both EST datasets.…”

Echinodermata

“…Therefore, the molecular processes involved in echinoderm regeneration are more likely to be shared with mammals than those observed in other classic models, such as cnidarians (e.g., Hydra ) or planarian fl atworms, which are more distantly related to chordates. Moreover, all the regenerative strategies that are currently described in animals are represented in echinoderms; arm regeneration in ophiuroids and crinoids is an epimorphic blastemal process, and in asteroids and echinoids, morphallaxis is the main process involved (Suarez-Castillo et al 2004 ;Candia Carnevali 2006 ). We understand here morphallactic regeneration as that relying on cellular reorganization with only limited production of new cells, while we defi ne epimorphic regeneration as that involving dedifferentiation of adult structures in order to form an undifferentiated mass of cells from which the new structures eventually develop.…”

“…Conventional cloning (gene candidate approaches) have been used to identify genes involved in the regenerative process, e.g., the homologs of ependymin , wnt6 , and hox6 (Suarez-Castillo et al 2004 ;Sun et al 2013b ), but more recently, transcriptomic tools have also been incorporated to gain an understanding of the changes in global patterns of gene activity (RojasCartagena et al 2007 ;Ortiz-Pineda et al 2009 ;Sun et al 2013a ). These technologies, and the eventual sequencing of genomes, will prove extremely useful in modeling the molecular events controlling visceral regeneration.…”

Cloning and expression analysis of Wnt6 and Hox6 during intestinal regeneration in the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

“…Therefore, many genes show differential expression during intestinal regeneration (Ortiz-Pineda et al, 2009). However, only a few genes playing important roles in intestinal regeneration in sea cucumbers have been thoroughly studied, such as Wnt9, Bmp1, ependymin, serum amyloid A, survivin, and mortalin (Santiago-Cardona et al, 2003;Suarez-Castillo et al, 2004;Zheng et al, 2006;Mashanov et al, 2010Mashanov et al, , 2012. Therefore, the molecular and genetic basis of intestinal regeneration still needs further study.…”