Immunodetection of High Mobility Group Proteins in the regenerating tail of lizard mainly indicates activation for cell proliferation

Immunodetection of High Mobility Group Proteins ( HMG s) in the regenerating tail of lizard indicates activation for cell proliferation. Acta Zoologica (Stockolm). High Mobility Group Proteins ( HMG s) are involved in chromatin assembling and control of transcription, especially during development. Transcriptome data indicate that HMG s are abundantly expressed in the early regenerating tail of lizards but their cellular localization remains unknown. Protein bands at 60–62 and 28–30  kD a are detected in western blots, more intense in the regenerating blastema. Immunodetection of HMG s in regenerating tail of the lizard Podarcis muralis indicates that these proteins are mainly localized in tissues where cell proliferation is as active as the apical wound epidermis, ependyma of the spinal cord and pro‐muscle aggregates. Few immunolabelled cells were seen in the regenerating cartilage and growing myomeres or nerves. Only in the wound epidermis labelled cells show a prevalent nuclear labelling while in other tissues a cytoplasmic labelling is prevalent. Only sparse immunolabelled cells are observed in the apical mesenchymal blastema and in the derived connective tissues formed in the mature regions of the regenerating tail, also destined to form adipose cells. The study suggests that the tissues with the highest immunolabelling correspond to those containing more proliferating cells, and that HMG s are mainly activated in these cells to promote cell division for the growth of the new tail.