Owlarn, S.S.OwlarnKlenner, F.F.KlennerSchmidt, D.D.SchmidtRabert, F.F.RabertTomasso, A.A.TomassoReuter, H.H.ReuterMulaw, M.A.M.A.MulawMoritz, S.S.MoritzGentile, L.L.GentileWeidinger, G.G.WeidingerBartscherer, K.K.Bartscherer2022-03-052022-03-052017https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/25372110.1038/s41467-017-02338-xDespite the identification of numerous regulators of regeneration in different animal models, a fundamental question remains: why do some wounds trigger the full regeneration of lost body parts, whereas others resolve by mere healing? By selectively inhibiting regeneration initiation, but not the formation of a wound epidermis, here we create headless planarians and finless zebrafish. Strikingly, in both missing-tissue contexts, injuries that normally do not trigger regeneration activate complete restoration of heads and fin rays. Our results demonstrate that generic wound signals have regeneration-inducing power. However, they are interpreted as regeneration triggers only in a permissive tissue context: when body parts are missing, or when tissue-resident polarity signals, such as Wnt activity in planarians, are modified. Hence, the ability to decode generic wound-induced signals as regeneration-initiating cues may be the crucial difference that distinguishes animals that regenerate from those that cannot.en610620journal article