beta-Catenin controls hair follicle morphogenesis and stem cell differentiation in the skin

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	beta-Catenin controls hair follicle morphogenesis and stem cell differentiation in the skin
Creators Name:	Huelsken, J., Vogel, R., Erdmann, B., Cotsarelis, G. and Birchmeier, W.
Abstract:	beta-Catenin is an essential molecule in Wnt/wingless signaling, which controls decisive steps in embryogenesis. To study the role of beta-catenin in skin development, we introduced a conditional mutation of the gene in the epidermis and hair follicles using Cre/loxP technology. When beta-catenin is mutated during embryogenesis, formation of placodes that generate hair follicles is blocked. We show that beta-catenin is required genetically downstream of tabby/downless and upstream of bmp and shh in placode formation. If beta-catenin is deleted after hair follicles have formed, hair is completely lost after the first hair cycle. Further analysis demonstrates that beta-catenin is essential for fate decisions of skin stem cells: in the absence of beta-catenin, stem cells fail to differentiate into follicular keratinocytes, but instead adopt an epidermal fate.
Keywords:	Cell Differentiation, Cell Lineage, Cytoskeletal Proteins, Gene Deletion, Enzymologic Gene Expression Regulation, Hair Follicle, Integrases, Keratin-14, Keratinocytes, Keratins, Knockout Mice, Insertional Mutagenesis, Phenotype, Stem Cells, Trans-Activators, Viral Proteins, beta Catenin, Animals, Mice
Source:	Cell
ISSN:	0092-8674
Publisher:	Cell Press
Volume:	105
Number:	4
Page Range:	533-545
Date:	18 May 2001
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8674(01)00336-1
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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