A conserved alternative splicing program is specific to planarian stem cells and is controlled by the highly conserved splicing factors CELF and MBNL; therefore, this mode of regulating stem cells is likely ancestral to all animals.

The planarian mex3-1 gene is required for non-stem cell fates and suppresses a stem cell fate in differentiating cells.

Planarian brain neurons modulate their turnover by signaling to nearby stem cells.

Application of laser-capture microdissection to planarian intestinal tissue provides a new tool for analysis of tissue-specific gene expression in flatworms, and a new resource to advance investigations of gastrointestinal regeneration.

Predicted gene regulatory networks active in planarians adult stem cells provide testable hypotheses about the control of pluripotency and differentiation in animals.

Anarchic, cycling piwi-1+ embryonic cells gives rise to neoblasts, pluripotent stemcells required for development of all organ systems during S. mediterranea embryogenesis, as well as the maintenance andregeneration of tissues during adulthood.

De novo transcriptome assembly and comprehensive characterization of gene expression in proliferating cells of regeneration-capable flatworm Macrostomum lignano advance this organism as a powerful model for stem cell research.

Physiological porphyrin biosynthesis causes photosensitivity in fasted planarians, providing an experimentally tractable animal model of acute porphyrias.

Planarians provide evidence for a common evolutionary origin of vertebrate and invertebrate excretory systems and provide a novel experimental model to study human kidney diseases.

Hedgehog signaling plays a role in regulating glia gene expression in planarians, pointing to a candidate ancestral and broadly used role for the Hedgehog pathway.