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- Title
Upregulation of DNA repair genes and cell extrusion underpin the remarkable radiation resistance of Trichoplax adhaerens.
- Authors
Fortunato, Angelo; Fleming, Alexis; Aktipis, Athena; Maley, Carlo C.
- Abstract
Trichoplax adhaerens is the simplest multicellular animal with tissue differentiation and somatic cell turnover. Like all other multicellular organisms, it should be vulnerable to cancer, yet there have been no reports of cancer in T. adhaerens or any other placozoan. We investigated the cancer resistance of T. adhaerens, discovering that they are able to tolerate high levels of radiation damage (218.6 Gy). To investigate how T. adhaerens survive levels of radiation that are lethal to other animals, we examined gene expression after the X-ray exposure, finding overexpression of genes involved in DNA repair and apoptosis including the MDM2 gene. We also discovered that T. adhaerens extrudes clusters of inviable cells after X-ray exposure. T. adhaerens is a valuable model organism for studying the molecular, genetic, and tissue-level mechanisms underlying cancer suppression. The placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens is able to tolerate high levels of radiation and is resilient to DNA damage; this study reveals that exposure to X-rays triggers the extrusion of cell clusters which subsequently die, and that radiation exposure induces the overexpression of genes involved in DNA repair.
- Subjects
GENETIC overexpression; RADIATION; RADIATION exposure; TISSUE differentiation; GENES
- Publication
PLoS Biology, 2021, Vol 19, Issue 11, p1
- ISSN
1544-9173
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pbio.3001471