Gene

Epidermis (zoology)

Cell biology

Biology

Surgery

Transplantation

Stem cell

Regeneration (biology)

Genetics

Progenitor cell

Anatomy

Progenitor

Medicine

Developmental biology

Xenopus

Appendage

Wound healing

Zebrafish

Science

A tale of tadpole tail regeneration Some vertebrates, including some amphibians, show a remarkable, if sometimes restricted, ability to regenerate lost appendages. Aztekin et al. compared naturally occurring regeneration-competent and -incompetent Xenopus laevis tadpoles using single-cell messenger RNA sequencing. They identified regeneration-organizing cells (ROCs) that could coordinate tail regeneration. Relocation of ROCs from the body to the amputation plane enabled specialized wound epidermis formation and subsequent regeneration. ROCs simultaneously expressed many different ligands that can induce proliferation of different progenitor cell populations. Thus, by signaling to underlying progenitors, ROCs orchestrate the growth of a new appendage. Science , this issue p. 653

Identification of a regeneration-organizing cell in the <i>Xenopus</i> tail

Identification of a regeneration-organizing cell in the Xenopus tail