Conservation analysis of core cell cycle regulators and their transcriptional behavior during limb regeneration in Ambystoma mexicanum

Ambystoma mexicanum (axolotl) has been one of the major experimental models for the study of regeneration during the past 100 years. Axolotl limb regeneration takes place through a multi-stage and complex developmental process called epimorphosis that involves diverse events of cell reprogramming. Such events start with dedifferentiation of somatic cells and the proliferation of quiescent stem cells to generate a population of proliferative cells called blastema. Once the blastema reaches a mature stage, cells undergo progressive differentiation into the diverse cell lineages that will form the new limb. Such pivotal cell reprogramming phenomena depend on the fine-tuned regulation of the cell cycle in each regeneration stage, where cell populations display specific proliferative capacities and differentiation status. The axolotl genome has been fully sequenced and released recently, and diverse RNA-seq approaches have also been generated, enabling the identification and conservatory analysis of core cell cycle regulators in this species. We report here our results from such analyses and present the transcriptional behavior of key regulatory factors during axolotl limb regeneration. We also found conserved protein interactions between axolotl Cyclin Dependent Kinases 2, 4 and 6 and Cyclins type D and E. Canonical CYC-CDK interactions that play major roles in modulating cell cycle progression in eukaryotes.