Marjolein Carron, Attila Placido Sachslehner, Munevver Burcu Cicekdal, Inge Bruggeman, Suzan Demuynck, Bahar Golabi, Elfride De Baere, Wim Declercq, Erwin Tschachler, Kris Vleminckx, Leopold Eckhart
Cornified skin appendages, such as hair and nails, are major evolutionary innovations of terrestrial vertebrates. Human hair and nails consist largely of special intermediate filament proteins, known as hair keratins, which are expressed under the control of the transcription factor Hoxc13. Here, we show that the cornified claws of Xenopus frogs contain homologs of hair keratins and the genes encoding these keratins are flanked by promoters in which binding sites of Hoxc13 are conserved. Furthermore, these keratins and Hoxc13 are co-expressed in the claw-forming epithelium of frog toe tips...
March 18, 2024: Nature Communications