Planarian wound sites after microtubule inhibition

The goals of this study were to uncover how microtubules participate in the initiation of whole-body regeneration within the organism Schmidtea mediterranea (planarians). Organisms with robust regenerative ability are model systems to understand what molecular and cellular pathways can enable the restoration of organs following major injury. In this associated dataset, planarians were amputated and RNA collected at wound sites with or without the chemical inhibition of microtubules, which are cytoskeletal proteins responsible for controlling cell polarity, transporting materials through cells, enabling cell division, and facilitating wound repair. The study determined that microtubules are required for a subset of injury-induced processes to occur at the onset of regeneration in planarians.