Novel erythrocyte clumps revealed by an orphan gene Newtic1 in circulating blood and regenerating limbs of the adult newt

Roman M. Casco-Robles, Akihiko Watanabe, Ko Eto, Kazuhito Takeshima, Shuichi Obata, Tsutomu Kinoshita, Takashi Ariizumi, Kei Nakatani, Tomoaki Nakada, Panagiotis A. Tsonis, Martin M. Casco-Robles, Keisuke Sakurai, Kensuke Yahata, Fumiaki Maruo, Fubito Toyama & Chikafumi Chiba

We report novel behavior of erythrocytes in the newt. We identified an orphan gene Newtic1, whose transcripts significantly increased in the blastema. Newtic1 was expressed in a subset of erythrocytes that formed a novel clump (EryC). EryC formed a complex with monocytes and was circulating throughout the body. When the limb was amputated, EryCs were newly generated in the stump and accumulated into a distal portion of the growing blastema. Our data suggested that the newt erythrocytes carried multiple secretory molecules including growth factors and matrix metalloproteases, and were capable of delivering these molecules into the blastema as a form of EryCs. This study provides insight into regulations and roles of nucleated erythrocytes, that are independent of oxygen delivery.

Scientific Reports

8

7455

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25867-x

※本研究は科学研究費補助金（221S0002；24240062）および筑波大学研究基盤支援プログラム（Bタイプ）によって実施された。