Abstract
Planarian flatworms are best known for their impressive regenerative capacity, yet this trait varies across species. In addition, planarians have other features that share morphology and function with the tissues of many other animals, including an outer mucociliary epithelium that drives planarian locomotion and is very similar to the epithelial linings of the human lung and oviduct. Planarians occupy a broad range of ecological habitats and are known to be sensitive to changes in their environment. Yet, despite their potential to provide valuable insight to many different fields, very few planarian species have been developed as laboratory models for mechanism-based research. Here we describe a previously undocumented planarian isolate, Girardia sp. (Guanajuato). After collecting this isolate from a freshwater habitat in central Mexico, we characterized it at the morphological, cellular, and molecular level. We show that Girardia sp. (Guanajuato) not only shares features with animals in the Girardia genus but also possesses traits that appear unique to this isolate. By thoroughly characterizing this new planarian isolate, our work facilitates future comparisons to other flatworms and further molecular dissection of the unique and physiologically-relevant traits observed in this Girardia sp. (Guanajuato) isolate.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 165-177 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Developmental Biology |
Volume | 489 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:ASA is funded from NIH Grant R37GM057260-20, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute . EMD was funded from a Pilot Project award under NIH Grant P20 GM121327 and is currently funded from NIH grant R35 GM142679 and the University of Kentucky . The 2016 CdeC Workshop for Developmental Biology was funded by a grant from the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Outreach (CTLO).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
Keywords
- Girardia
- Mexico
- Planarian
- Regeneration
- Stem cells
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology