Drift of positional identity drives reproductive aging in a long-lived regenerative animal - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #planarian-regeneration
- #reproductive-aging
- #positional-identity
- Planarians experience age-related infertility despite abundant pluripotent stem cells.
- The cause of infertility is in the female reproductive system, with ectopic ovaries and disrupted structures.
- The Notum/Wnt signaling gradient shifts posteriorly with age, affecting anterior-posterior polarity.
- Manipulating this gradient via RNAi can slow or accelerate reproductive aging.
- Maintaining tissue polarity, alongside stem cell health, is crucial to mitigate aging, with resetting positional information as a potential rejuvenation mechanism.