Flatworms Grow the Heads, Brains and Characteristics of Other Species

Scientists have managed to cause a species of flatworm to grow heads and characteristics of another species. The new findings could be huge when it comes to learning a bit more bout physiological circuits as a new kind of epigenetics.

"It is commonly thought that the sequence and structure of chromatin-material that makes up chromosomes-determine the shape of an organism, but these results show that the function of physiological networks can override the species-specific default anatomy," said Michael Levin, one of the researchers, in a news release. "By modulating the connectivity of cells via electrical synapses, we were able to derive head morphology and brain patterning belonging to a completely different species from an animal with a normal genome."

In this latest study, the researchers worked with flatworms that had remarkable regenerative capacity. They were able to induce the development of different species-specific head shapes by interrupting gap junctions, which are protein channels that enable cells to communicate with each other by passing electrical signals back and forth. The changes were more than skin deep, as well. They included not only the overall shape of the head, but also the shape of the brain and the distribution of the worm's adult stem cells.

The ease with which a particular shape could be coaxed from the flatworm was proportional to the proximity of the target worm on the evolutionary timeline. The closer the two species were related, the easier it was to effect the change.

"We've demonstrated that the electrical connections between cells provide important information for species-specific patterning of the head during regeneration in planarian flatworms," said Maya Emmons-Bell, one of the researchers. "This kind of information will be crucial for advances in regenerative medicine, as well as a better understanding of evolutionary biology."

The findings are published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

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