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The axolotl is a type of salamander with frilly gills, a cute smile and widely spaced eyes. They're pretty frikken adorable, and they also have a very very useful skill: regeneration of their body. We're talking about science fiction kind of regeneration where, if they lose a limb, a new one grows right back. Cool.
Now, scientists are hoping that if they find the genetic basis for axolotl's ability to regenerate, they might be able to apply this to humans. Yes, it sounds like the future, but we're already living in an age where robots are household items, so don't be surprised.
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There has been a small obstacle in examining the genetics of the axolotl: it has the largest genome of any animal - ten times larger than a human's genome. However, Parker Flowers, a professor of chemistry and pharmacology, has discovered a way to get around this, and he's identified at least two genes involved in regeneration.
Flowers and his research team used gene editing techniques in a multi-step process to flag markers of the genes that could be involved in regeneration. The findings included two genes inside the blastema (a group of dividing cells that form at the site of a severed limb) that helped to regrow an axolotl's tail.
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Researchers say that humans probably possess similar genes - it's just discovering how to activate them is the hard part. When this is discovered, humans will be able to heal their wounds faster and regenerate tissue, just like Wolverine.
Axolotls Might Have The Answer For Regeneration
These smiley underwater creatures are more than cute - if they lose a leg or section of their body, it grows right back. Scientists think that humans have a lot to learn from axolotls about regeneration.
This article first appeared in SciTech Daily.
Interested in other discoveries? Check out the first high resolution of the Sun's surface.
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