Chromatin remodelling and retrotransposons activities during regeneration in Drosophila.

Regeneration is a response mechanism aiming to reconstruct lost or damaged structures. To achieve this, the cells repopulating the lost tissue often have to change their original identity, a process that involves chromatin remodelling.We have analysed the issue of chromatin remodelling during regeneration in the wing disc of Drosophila. In this disc the ablation of the central region (the pouch) induces the regenerative response of the cells from the lateral region (the hinge), which reconstitute the wing pouch. We have examined euchromatin and heterochromatin histone marks during the process and find that heterochromatin marks disappear but are recovered when regeneration is complete. Euchromatin marks are not modified. We also describe the transcription of two retrotransposons, Roo and F-element in the regenerating cells. We have established a temporal correlation between the alterations of heterochromatin marks and the levels of transcription of two retrotransposons, Roo and F-element, both during embryonic development and in the regeneration process. [Display omitted] • During regeneration of the wing disc there is chromatin remodelling, as indicated by histone modifications. • Heterochromatin histone marks are modified during the process but euchromatin marks are not. • The transcription of two retrotransposons, Roo and F-element, is blocked in regenerating cells but resumed at the end of the process. • The epigenetic modifications found during regeneration resemble those that occur during early development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]