Abstract for paper for which this research was collected: Notophthalmus viridescens (Red-spotted Newt) possess amazing capabilities to regenerate their organs and other tissues. Previously, using a de novo assembly of the newt transcriptome combined with proteomic validation, we identified a novel family of 5 protein members expressed in adult tissues during regeneration in Notophthalmus viridescens. Due to absence of transgenic approaches in the Notophthalmus, and conservation of genetic machinery across species, we generated transgenic Drosophila melanogaster to misexpress these genes.

Samples for RNA sequencing were collected at third instar larval (L3) developmental stage. Out of the total 36,099 transcript models in Drosophila, 34,967 transcripts were detected. The expression of more than 27,000 transcripts was compared between these 5 newly identified Newt genes. C1 regulated 2220 transcripts; C2 regulated 1383 transcripts, C3 regulated 1446 transcripts, C4 regulated 182 transcripts, and C5 regulated 2212 transcripts. Very few regulated genes were found to be specific to particular Newt protein. Genes involved in the developmental process, cell cycle, apoptosis, and immune response are among those that are highly enriched.