Insight into stem cell regulation from sub-lethally irradiated worms

Despite the significant advances in the comprehension of stem cell control network, the nature of extrinsic signals regulating their dynamic remains to be understood. In this paper, we take advantage of the stem cell repopulation process that follows low-dose X-ray treatment in planarians to identify genes, preferentially enriched in differentiated cells, whose expression is activated during the process. Genetic silencing of some of them impaired the stem cell repopulation, suggesting a tight extrinsic control of stem cell activity. •Identification of genes up-regulated in low-dose X-ray treated planarians.•Expression analysis indicates that up-regulated genes are expressed in differentiated cells.•The silencing of up-regulated genes reduces stem cell repopulation in low-dose X-ray treated animals.