Dr. Uri Gat

The ability to completely repair body parts after heavy damage such as cutting into several sections is typical of certain animals. As amazing as it may seem to us, there are several different types of animals that are able to perform this process easily, and this phenomenon has been identified and studied by naturalists and scientists in recent centuries. In the lab we are researching the process of whole body regeneration using a simple animal - the sea-rose nematostella. This animal belongs to the group of stingrays (as well as jellyfish and corals) and exhibits an impressive body restorative ability even after cutting into several parts, with each part forming a complete animal. Surprisingly the genome sequence of the nematostella showed great similarity in the contents of the genes and in the genomic arrangement to that of man and especially in the genes that function in embryonic development and in the formation of the body's axes and organs.
In order to better understand this mystery, we set out to investigate the genetic plan, in which after cutting the body of the sea-rose in the middle, the tail section reshapes the head and the head section grows a new tail. In this project we mapped the genes that are activated at different points in time during regeneration, and compared their level in the head segment versus the recovering tail segment. This scan revealed many genes known to be involved in the development of the first embryonic axes as might be expected, but also revealed genes unique to the regeneration process, which has its own characteristics. As a result of this work we understand much more Taking place in it.
This study also characterized the major genetic networks that take part in regeneration and we now know better which signal transduction mechanisms between cells are responsible for the reconstruction of the head versus the tail. A large proportion of these genes are also found in humans and therefore this information is relevant and may in the future lead to better treatments for injuries and may even allow some degree of rehabilitation of damaged organs.