PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jakub Wudarski
AU  - Daniil Simanov
AU  - Kirill Ustyantsev
AU  - Katrien de Mulder
AU  - Margriet Grelling
AU  - Magda Grudniewska
AU  - Frank Beltman
AU  - Lisa Glazenburg
AU  - Turan Demircan
AU  - Julia Wunderer
AU  - Weihong Qi
AU  - Dita B. Vizoso
AU  - Philipp M. Weissert
AU  - Daniel Olivieri
AU  - Stijn Mouton
AU  - Victor Guryev
AU  - Aziz Aboobaker
AU  - Lukas Schärer
AU  - Peter Ladurner
AU  - Eugene Berezikov
TI  - A platform for efficient transgenesis in <em>Macrostomum lignano</em>, a flatworm model organism for stem cell research
AID  - 10.1101/151654
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 151654
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/18/151654.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/18/151654.full
AB  - Regeneration-capable flatworms are informative research models to study the mechanisms of stem cell regulation, regeneration and tissue patterning. However, the lack of transgenesis methods significantly hampers their wider use. Here we report development of a transgenesis method for Macrostomum lignano, a basal flatworm with excellent regeneration capacity. We demonstrate that microinjection of DNA constructs into fertilized one-cell stage eggs, followed by a low dose of irradiation, frequently results in random integration of the transgene in the genome and its stable transmission through the germline. To facilitate selection of promoter regions for transgenic reporters, we assembled and annotated the M. lignano genome, including genome-wide mapping of transcription start regions, and showed its utility by generating multiple stable transgenic lines expressing fluorescent proteins under several tissue-specific promoters. The reported transgenesis method and annotated genome sequence will permit sophisticated genetic studies on stem cells and regeneration using M. lignano as a model organism.