Ets21C sustains a pro-regenerative transcriptional program in blastema cells of Drosophila imaginal discs.

An important unanswered question in regenerative biology is to what extent regeneration is accomplished by the reactivation of gene regulatory networks used during development versus the activation of regeneration-specific transcriptional programs. Following damage, Drosophila imaginal discs, the larval precursors of adult structures, can regenerate missing portions by localized proliferation of damage-adjacent tissue. Using single-cell transcriptomics in regenerating wing discs, we have obtained a comprehensive view of the transcriptome of regenerating discs and identified two regeneration-specific cell populations within the blastema, Blastema1 and Blastema2.