Generation Regeneration
Comics and video games were a staple in my childhood. Many lunch table talks turned into who was the coolest super hero or who had the best powers, and how did Batman afford all that cool gear. No matter who or what anyone threw out there, I would always come back to my main man Wolverine. His admantium skeleton, retractable claws, healing factor and overall badassness made Wolverine reign supreme. Still today Hugh Jackman’s adaptation on the big screen shows that Wolverine is a timeless hit. Scientist have inched one step closer to making our super hero dreams come true this week with their announcement that they have sequenced the largest number of genomes to date in an organism, to specifically learn about their regenerative traits.
What mighty mythical creature have scientist studied in hopes of learning about their regenerative cells? Not only can this beast regenerate whole limbs lost in battle like a sea star, but they are also known to regenerate whole organs! There have even been documented cases of these miraculous animals regenerating parts of their brain or, like out of a syfi movie, extra limbs! Yes, please let me have Wolverine powers and grow extra limbs to become Goro. Is this anomaly a bird, a fish, a plane…nope its none other than the elusive Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum).
The Mexican Walking fish, as they are also known as, are on the edge of extinction in the wild, but their colorful skin and Pokémon like resemblance have made them great pets. This unique amphibian has a genome ten times larger than that of a human, even though they could fit comfortably in a hoodie pocket. Their long repetitive sequences may play a role when it comes to regeneration. Many more analyses are still to come, but this is promising news for the science community. Hopefully this study will contribute to a future where organ transplants are much easier or where organs are regrown by the patient themselves. Next time they should check out The Lab World Group’s equipment for sale to make the most of their money.
