再生调控的开关: 组织再生增强子的研究进展

Switching on Regeneration:Research Progress of Tissue Regeneration Enhancers

再生是组织发生损伤后恢复原有形态和功能的过程。不同脊椎动物的再生能力差异很大,硬骨鱼和两栖动物再生能力很强,而哺乳动物的再生能力极其有限。不同物种再生能力的差异很可能不是由于再生特异基因在进化过程中丢失造成的,相反,调控元件在组织损伤时的激活与否可能是决定再生成功与否的开关。增强子是一种顺式作用调控元件,对于精确调控基因表达必不可少。目前已经在多种模式生物中鉴定出了多个组织再生增强子,并报道了这些元件在组织再生中的关键作用。这篇综述将重点介绍增强子在组织再生中的重要调控作用,组织再生增强子的预测和鉴定,以及组织再生增强子在损伤时被激活的具体机制。

Regeneration is the process by which tissue restores its original shape and function after injury.The regenerative capacity varies widely among different vertebrates.Teleost fish and amphibians have strong regenerative capacity,while mammals have limited capacity to regenerate in most tissues.The reasons behind varied regenerative capacity among species may not be attributed to loss of regeneration-specific genes during evolution.However,activation of regulatory elements in response to tissue damages may account for the key switch of regeneration.Enhancers are cis-acting regulatory elements that are essential for the precise regulation of gene expression.Several tissue regeneration enhancers have been identified in a variety of model organisms and prove to play important roles in regeneration.This review will focus on the important regulatory role of enhancers in tissue regeneration,the prediction and identification of tissue regeneration enhancers,and the specific mechanisms by which tissue regeneration enhancers are activated in response to injury.