Proteomics based approach to understand tissue regeneration

Dissertation presented to obtain the PhD degree in Biochemistry

Most echinoderm species share an outstanding capacity for regeneration that is maintained throughout the adult animal lifespan. Regeneration allows these deuterostomes to recover from predation injuries or selfinduced arm autotomy, which are known to occur frequently in nature. Although echinoderms are extremely interesting in terms of their phylogenetic proximity to chordates, most areas of echinoderm research have been neglected in recent years. These wonderful animals quickly shifted from being the preferred animal models in the 19th-20th centuries of the pioneer regenerationists to scientific oblivion. Other species, for which the possibility of conducting genetic studies became available, are now favored. After the sequencing of an echinoderm species genome, the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus in 2006, several scientific reports of interesting molecular studies were published.(...)

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia