Université de Fribourg

Towards deciphering variations of heart regeneration in fish

Jaźwińska, Anna ; Blanchoud, Simon

In: Current Opinion in Physiology, 2020, vol. 14, p. 21–26

Among adult vertebrates, the zebrafish presents the rather exceptional capacity to efficiently regenerate its heart after injury. This bony fish has thus become a leading genetic model organism to elucidate the natural mechanisms of successful cardiac restoration. Given its potential biomedical significance, parallel analyses between zebrafish and mammals are aiming at the identification of...

Université de Fribourg

Whole-body regeneration in the colonial tunicate Botrylloides leachii

Blanchoud, Simon ; Rinkevich, Buki ; Wilson, Megan J.

In: Marine Organisms as Model Systems in Biology and Medicine, 2018, p. 337–355

The colonial marine invertebrate Botrylloides leachii belongs to the Tunicata subphylum, the closest invertebrate relatives to the vertebrate group and the only known class of chordates that can undergo whole-body regeneration (WBR). This dramatic developmental process allows a minute isolated fragment of B. leachii’s vascular system, or a colony excised of all adults, to restore a...

Université de Fribourg

Hematological analysis of the ascidian Botrylloides leachii (Savigny, 1816) during whole-body regeneration

Blanchoud, Simon ; Zondag, Lisa ; Lamare, Miles D. ; Wilson, Megan J.

In: The Biological Bulletin, 2017, vol. 232, no. 3, p. 143–157

Whole-body regeneration (WBR)—the formation of an entire adult from only a small fragment of its own tissue—is extremely rare among chordates. Exceptionally, in the colonial ascidian Botrylloides leachii (Savigny, 1816) a fully functional adult is formed from their common vascular system after ablation of all adults from the colony in just 10 d, thanks to their high blastogenetic...

Université de Fribourg

De novo draft assembly of the Botrylloides leachii genome provides further insight into tunicate evolution

Blanchoud, Simon ; Rutherford, Kim ; Zondag, Lisa ; Gemmell, Neil J. ; Wilson, Megan J.

In: Scientific Reports, 2018, vol. 8, no. 1, p. -

Tunicates are marine invertebrates that compose the closest phylogenetic group to the vertebrates. These chordates present a particularly diverse range of regenerative abilities and life-history strategies. Consequently, tunicates provide an extraordinary perspective into the emergence and diversity of these traits. Here we describe the genome sequencing, annotation and analysis of the...