p63 is the molecular switch for initiation of an epithelial stratification program

  1. Maranke I. Koster1,
  2. Soeun Kim2,
  3. Alea A. Mills4,
  4. Francesco J. DeMayo1,2, and
  5. Dennis R. Roop1,2,3,5
  1. 1Program in Developmental Biology and 2Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology and 3Dermatology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA; 4Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA

Abstract

Development of stratified epithelia, such as the epidermis, requires p63 expression. The p63 gene encodes isoforms that contain (TA) or lack (ΔN) a transactivation domain. We demonstrate that TAp63 isoforms are the first to be expressed during embryogenesis and are required for initiation of epithelial stratification. In addition, TAp63 isoforms inhibit terminal differentiation, suggesting that TAp63 isoforms must be counterbalanced by ΔNp63 isoforms to allow cells to respond to signals required for maturation of embryonic epidermis. Our data demonstrate that p63 plays a dual role: initiating epithelial stratification during development and maintaining proliferative potential of basal keratinocytes in mature epidermis.

Keywords

Footnotes

  • Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1165104.

  • ↵5 Corresponding author. E-MAIL roopd{at}bcm.tmc.edu; FAX (713) 798-3800.

    • Accepted December 1, 2003.
    • Received October 28, 2003.
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This Article

  1. Published in Advance January 16, 2004, doi: 10.1101/gad.1165104 Genes & Dev. 18: 126-131 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

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