The whole-body regeneration of a planarian is a natural wonder remained elusive. It requires coordinated responses from each cell in the remaining tissue with spatial awareness to regenerate new cells and missing body parts. While previous studies identified new genes essential to regeneration, more efficient screening approach that can identify regeneration-associated genes at spatial context is in need. Here, we present a comprehensive three-dimensional (3D) spatiotemporal transcriptome landscape of planarian regeneration. We identified a novel pluripotent neoblast subtype and depletion of its marker gene made planarian more susceptible to sub-lethal radiation. Furthermore, we found newly identified spatial gene expression modules essential to tissue development. Functional analysis of hub genes identified by ST modules, such as plk1, confirmed their important roles in regeneration. Our 3D transcriptomic atlas analysis provides a powerful tool for deciphering novel regeneration and homeostasis-related genes, and also compiles a publicly available online spatiotemporal analysis resource for planarian regeneration research.
Online resource site migrated to https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/STAPR/