Canalis Hydra 12

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Canalis Hydra 12

Hydra is one of the oldest model invertebrates and the first organism in which the first step of regeneration, tissue dedifferentiation, was described (Lorz 2001 ). Hydra has attracted the attention of biologists because its body forms can be easily manipulated and can regenerate with the capacity to restore its complex organization throughout development and adult life (Brockes and Kumar 2008 ). The hydra body plan is well conserved, but its regeneration process is unique among metazoans (Lorz 2001 ). The body form and regeneration capacity of hydra have been extensively studied, and its body plan is established in the early chordate, together with common features of regeneration (Knolwes 1999 ). The regenerative capacity is derived from wound epidermis cells. Each epidermis cell can form two heads. Regeneration is initiated when wound epidermis cells at the wound site dedifferentiate into progenitor cells, which eventually form tentacles around the wound. Tentacle cells become head cells when aggregated. However, regeneration capacity is lost when the tissue around the wound site becomes different from the original wound epidermis. In that condition, regeneration of the body form requires the multiplication of cells to generate new tentacles (Lorz 2001 ).

The Hydra genome project was initiated to achieve a better understanding of the genetic mechanisms that control Hydra cell differentiation and tissue morphogenesis during regeneration (Brockes and Kumar 2008 ). Using RNA deep sequencing, we have generated total RNA libraries from both old and regenerating tissues in Hydra magnipapillata. Here, the results from genome and transcriptome projects have been integrated to investigate the molecular mechanisms of body form recovery and tissue regeneration.