SKIRMISHER

They didn’t deep-fry it and smothered it with spicy sauces; they regrew it.

A research team at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies regenerated a wing in a chick embryo, implicating that vertebrates can innately regenerate lost limbs, which is something we only see now in lizards and salamanders.

Their study, published in the advance online edition of Genes and Development on Nov. 17, demonstrates that vertebrate regeneration is under the control of the powerful Wnt signaling system: Activating it overcomes the mysterious barrier to regeneration in animals like chicks that can’t normally replace missing limbs while inactivating it in animals known to be able to regenerate their limbs (frogs, zebrafish, and salamanders) shuts down their ability to replace missing legs and tails.

“In this simple experiment, we removed part of the chick embryo’s wing, activated Wnt signaling, and got the whole limb back - a beautiful and perfect wing,” said the lead author, Juan Carlos Izpis�a Belmonte, Ph.D., a professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory. “By changing the expression of a few genes, you can change the ability of a vertebrate to regenerate their limbs, rebuilding blood vessels, bone, muscles, and skin - everything that is needed.”

I wonder if they could also regrow dicks that have fallen off; I’m sure many would be interested to know that.
via SCIENCE BLOG

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