The regenerative ability of planarians is truly remarkable - they can regenerate their entire body from a tiny tissue fragment. Of particular interest is how the brain regenerates. On p. 1679, Agata and colleagues now show that the planarian clathrin heavy chain(DjCHC) gene, which functions in endocytosis, is required for neurite extension and maintenance during regeneration but not for neuronal differentiation. They used a novel in vitro cell culture system in which primary cultures of planarian neurons from regenerated heads were sorted(according to neuronal marker expression) by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), following the RNAi knockdown of genes that are expressed in the regenerating CNS. This in vitro assay revealed that neurite extension but not neuronal differentiation depends on DjCHC. In uncut planarians,the patterning and differentiation of neural cells is normal despite the RNAi knockdown of DjCHC; however, neurites subsequently regress and neural cells die, resulting in an atrophied CNS. This surprising link between endocytosis and CNS regeneration will be of interest to both neurobiologists and investigators of regeneration.
Endocytosis regenerated
Endocytosis regenerated. Development 1 May 2007; 134 (9): e901. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
About us

Our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 this year. Read about the history of the Company and find out what Sarah Bray, our Chair of the Board of Directors, has to say.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025

We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register by 28 February 2025 to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues

Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology

In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
In preprints
Did you know that Development publishes perspectives on recent preprints? These articles help our readers navigate the ever-growing preprint literature. We welcome proposals for ‘In preprints’ articles, so please do get in touch if you’d like to contribute.