March 28, 2024

How Hydra – A Group of Small Aquatic Animals – Regenerate Their Own Heads

The degree to which the genes and gene regulatory networks driving regrowth vary throughout types remains mostly undiscovered. Scientists have found numerous genes associated with head regrowth.

Researchers used histone adjustment ChIP-seq, a technique used to examine how proteins connect with DNA, to identify 9998 prospect proximal promoter and 3018 candidate enhancer-like regions respectively. Their research study reveals that a subset of these regulatory elements is redesigned during head regeneration and determines a set of transcription element concepts that are enriched in the areas activated throughout head regrowth.
This work determines for the first time the specific candidate regulatory elements of the genome that alter during Hydra head regeneration, which determine how organisms develop by turning on or off genes depending on requirement. “One exciting finding of this work is that the head regrowth and budding programs in Hydra are quite various, said the papers lead author, Aide Macias-Muñoz. “Even though the result is the very same (a Hydra head), gene expression is much more variable throughout regeneration. Accompanying vibrant gene expression is vibrant chromatin redesigning at sites where developmental transcription elements bind. These findings recommend that complex developmental enhancers were present before the Cnidaria and Bilateria split.”.
Recommendation: “Coordinated gene expression and chromatin regulation throughout Hydra head regrowth” 8 December 2021, Genome Biology and Evolution.DOI: 10.1093/ gbe/evab221.

Hydra. Credit: David Plachetzki
A new paper in Genome Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, maps out for the very first time how Hydra, which are a group of small marine animals, can regenerate their own heads by changing the method that their genes are regulated, referred to as epigenetics.
Hydra belong to the group of animals that includes about 10,000 species divided into 2 major groups: Anthozoa (consisting of sea anemones, corals, and sea pens) and Medusozoa (sea wasps, jellyfish, and hydra). Hydra, which reside in tropical and temperate regions, are frequently thought to be biologically immortal; Hydra stem cells have a capability for limitless self-renewal..
Whole-body regeneration happens in a few animal species. The level to which the genes and gene regulative networks driving regeneration vary across types remains mainly unexplored. Researchers still dont understand the mechanism driving Hydra head regrowth. Previous studies have actually discovered proof of regulation by multiple developmental paths. Researchers have found a number of genes associated with head regrowth.

Their research study shows that a subset of these regulative components is remodeled during head regrowth and identifies a set of transcription aspect motifs that are enriched in the areas triggered throughout head regeneration.