James D Glover, Zoe R Sudderick, Barbara Bo-Ju Shih, Cameron Batho-Samblas, Laura Charlton, Andrew L Krause, Calum Anderson, Jon Riddell, Adam Balic, Jinxi Li, Václav Klika, Thomas E Woolley, Eamonn A Gaffney, Andrea Corsinotti, Richard A Anderson, Luke J Johnston, Sara J Brown, Sijia Wang, Yuhang Chen, Michael L Crichton, Denis J Headon
Fingerprints are complex and individually unique patterns in the skin. Established prenatally, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that guide fingerprint ridge formation and their intricate arrangements are unknown. Here we show that fingerprint ridges are epithelial structures that undergo a truncated hair follicle developmental program and fail to recruit a mesenchymal condensate. Their spatial pattern is established by a Turing reaction-diffusion system, based on signaling between EDAR, WNT, and antagonistic BMP pathways...
March 2, 2023: Cell