Digital gene expression approach over multiple RNA-Seq data sets to detect neoblast transcriptional changes in Schmidtea mediterranea

Abstract

Background: The freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea is recognised as a valuable model for research into adult stem cells and regeneration. Results: Taking advantage of digital gene expression (DGE) sequencing technology we compare all the available transcriptomes for S. mediterranea and improve their annotation. These results are accessible via web for the community of researchers. Conclusions: DGE is a valuable tool for gene discovery, quantification and annotation. The application of DGE in S. mediterranea confirms the planarian stem cells or neoblasts as a complex population of pluripotent and multipotent cells regulated by a mixture of transcription factors and cancer-related genes.