| Budget Amount *help |
¥84,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥64,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥19,440,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥13,520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥10,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,120,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥14,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥11,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,300,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥15,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥11,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,510,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥20,150,000 (Direct Cost: ¥15,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥4,650,000)
Fiscal Year 2010: ¥21,060,000 (Direct Cost: ¥16,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥4,860,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Planarian regeneration serves as a platform to study how animals can precisely restore their missing body parts after injury. The planarian Dugesia japonica can regenerate a complete individual even from a tiny tail fragment via activation of somatic pluripotent stem cells called neoblasts. We found that interplay between anterior extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) signaling and posterior b-catenin signaling can account for the reconstruction of a complete head-to-tail axis after amputation. Furthermore, our data suggest that the balance between anterior ERK signaling and posterior b-catenin signaling may vary among planarian species, resulting in the drastic differences of the head-regenerative ability of their tail fragments. We demonstrated that RNA interference of the b-catenin gene enabled de novo regeneration of a functional head from head non-regenerative tail fragments of the planarian Phagocata kawakatsui.
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