ROS Thresholds Control Unique Regeneration and Wound Repair Transcriptomic Programs

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can shape tissue molecular environments following trauma. Despite accumulating at all injury types, it remains unclear how ROS lead some wounds to regenerate functional tissue while others form fibroses. Concentration-dependent threshold mechanisms provide a potential explanation for different repair outcomes resulting from the same injury-induced signal. Using highly regenerative planarians, we uncover separate ROS-mediated transcriptional programs unique to repair-only and regenerative contexts. Overall design: mRNA was isolated and sequenced from total RNA collected from Schmidtea mediterranea at 45 minutes post injury. Sequencing was conducted by an Illumina Novaseq platform. Note: Each BioSample is a pooled replicate containing tissues from n = 40 individual animals.