@article{oai:repo.qst.go.jp:00046148,
 author = {Tasaki, Junichi and Shibata, Norito and Nishimura, Osamu and Itomi, Kazu and Tabata, Yoshimichi and Sun, Fuyan and Suzuki, Nobuko and Araki, Ryoko and Abe, Masumi and Agata, Kiyokazu and Umesono, Yoshihiko and 田端 義巌 and 孫 富艶 and 鈴木 展子 and 荒木 良子 and 安倍 真澄 and 阿形 清和},
 issue = {12},
 journal = {Development},
 month = {Jun},
 note = {The robust regenerative ability of planarians depends on a population of somatic stem cells called neoblasts, which are the only mitotic cells in adults and are responsible for blastema formation after amputation. The molecular mechanism underlying neoblast differentiation associated with blastema formation remains unknown. Here, using the planarian Dugesia japonica we found that DjmkpA, a planarian mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatase-related gene, was specifically expressed in blastema cells in response to increased extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) activity. Pharmacological and genetic [RNA interference (RNAi)] approaches provided evidence that ERK activity was required for blastema cells to exit the proliferative state and undergo differentiation. By contrast, DjmkpA RNAi induced an increased level of ERK activity and rescued the differentiation defect of blastema cells caused by pharmacological reduction of ERK activity. These observations suggest that ERK signaling plays an instructive role in the cell fate decisions of blastema cells regarding whether to differentiate or not, by inducing DjmkpA as a negative regulator of ERK signaling during planarian regeneration.},
 pages = {2417--2427},
 title = {ERK signaling controls blastema cell differentiation during planarian regeneration.},
 volume = {138},
 year = {2011}
}