A comparative epigenomic and single-cell transcriptomic analysis of teleost regeneration

The ability to regenerate body parts lost to amputation is widely but non-uniformly distributed in animals. Species such as bony fishes display extensive regenerative capacities, while others such as mammals regenerate poorly. Even though regeneration has been the subject of extensive phylogenetic, developmental, cellular and molecular studies, the mechanisms underlying the broad disparity of regenerative capacities in animals remain elusive. Here we report on a comparative epigenomic and transcriptomic approach which identified an evolutionarily conserved regeneration response program in vertebrates. By defining the cis-regulomes and single-cell transcriptomes of early stages of regeneration in the distantly related African killifish Nothobranchius furzeri and the zebrafish Danio rerio, we uncovered species-specific and evolutionarily conserved genomic responses to amputation.