Understanding regeneration through proteomics

Regeneration is a complex cellular process that, rather than simply forming a scar following injury, the animal forms a new functional tissue. Regeneration is a widespread process among metazoa, although not uniformly. Planaria, starfish, and some worms can regenerate most of their body, whereas many other species can only regenerate parts of specific tissues or fail to accomplish a functional regrowth, as is the case of mammals CNS. Research in regenerative medicine will possibly culminate in the regeneration of organs/tissues originally not prone to this process. Despite the complexity of the interactions and regulatory systems involved, the variety of tissues and organs these cells differentiate into has so far impaired the success of direct transplantation to restore damaged tissues. For this reason, a study, at the molecular level of the regeneration mechanisms developed by different animal models is likely to provide answers to why these processes are not readily activated in mammals. Proteomic-based approaches are being recognized as extremely useful to study of regeneration events, also because there is a relevant contribution of posttranscriptional processes that involve frequently the occurrence of a broad range of PTMs. The present review focuses on the significant knowledge brought up by proteomics in diverse aspects of regeneration research on different animal models, tissues, and organs.