How Lizards Regenerate Their Tails: Scientists Discover Genetic Recipe for Regrowth

Lizards have the amazing ability to regenerate their tails. Now, scientists have taken a closer look at this unique ability and have discovered the genetic "recipe" for lizard tail regeneration.

Learning how lizards regenerate their tails could allow research to stimulate cell growth, and even limb regeneration in humans. This means that learning what processes occur in lizards could eventually pave the way for future advancements in treatment in medicine.

"Lizards are the most closely-related animals to humans that can regenerate entire appendages," said Kenro Kusumi, lead author of the new paper, in a news release. "We discovered that they turn on at least 326 genes in specific regions of the regenerating tail, including genes involved in embryonic development, response to hormonal signals and wound healing."

In order to better examine this ability, the researchers used next-generation technologies in order to sequence all of the genes expressed during regeneration. This allowed them to find out exactly which genes are needed to regrow a lizard tail.

"We have identified one type of cell that is important for tissue regeneration," said Jeanne Wilson-Rawls, co-author of the new study. "Just like in mice and humans, lizards have satellite cells that can grow and develop into skeletal muscle and tissues."

That said, lizard regeneration isn't an instant process. It takes about 60 days for a tail to fully regenerate. This means that any use of regeneration in humans would conceivably take longer, and it's possible that its use would be limited.  Yet scientists are hopeful for potentially using the findings for new therapeutic approaches for spinal cord injuries, repairing birth defects, and treating diseases such as arthritis.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.