Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0038187 (starvation)
 24,951 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Remodeling is an integral component of tissue homeostasis and regeneration. In planarians, these processes occur constantly in a simple tractable model organism as part of the animal's normal life history. Here, we have studied the gene Gtdap-1, the planarian ortholog of human death-associated protein-1 or DAP-1. DAP-1, together with DAP-kinase, has been identified as a positive mediator of programmed cell death induced by gamma-IFN in HeLa cells. Although the function of DAP-kinase is well characterized, the role of DAP-1 has not been studied in detail. Our findings suggest that Gtdap-1 is involved in autophagy in planarians, and that autophagy plays an essential role in the remodeling of the organism that occurs during regeneration and starvation, providing the necessary energy and building blocks to the neoblasts for cell proliferation and differentiation. The gene functions at the interface between survival and cell death during stress-inducing processes like regeneration and starvation in sexual and asexual races of planarians. Our findings provide insights into the complex interconnections among cell proliferation, homeostasis, and cell death in planarians and perspectives for the understanding of neoblast stem cell dynamics.
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PMID:Gtdap-1 promotes autophagy and is required for planarian remodeling during regeneration and starvation. 1768 79

Planarians have been established as an ideal model organism for stem cell research and regeneration. Planarian regeneration and homeostasis require an exquisite balancing act between cell death and cell proliferation as new tissues are made (epimorphosis) and existing tissues remodeled (morphallaxis). Some of the genes and mechanisms that control cell proliferation and pattern formation are known. However, studies about cell death during remodeling are few and far between. We have studied the gene Gtdap-1, the planarian ortholog of human death-associated protein-1 or DAP-1. DAP-1 together with DAP-kinase has been identified as a positive mediator of programmed cell death induced by gamma-interferon in HeLa cells. We have found that the gene functions at the interface between autophagy and cell death in the remodeling of the organism that occurs during regeneration and starvation in sexual and asexual races of planarians. Our data suggest that autophagy of existing cells may be essential to fuel the continued proliferation and differentiation of stem cells by providing the necessary energy and building blocks to neoblasts.
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PMID:Gtdap-1 and the role of autophagy during planarian regeneration and starvation. 1778 38