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Carron M, Sachslehner AP, Cicekdal MB, Bruggeman I, Demuynck S, Golabi B, De Baere E, Declercq W, Tschachler E, Vleminckx K, Eckhart L. Evolutionary origin of Hoxc13-dependent skin appendages in amphibians. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2328. [PMID: 38499530 PMCID: PMC10948813 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46373-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
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. Upon deletion of hoxc13, the expression of hair keratin homologs is abolished and the development of cornified claws is abrogated in X. tropicalis. These results indicate that Hoxc13-dependent expression of hair keratin homologs evolved already in stem tetrapods, presumably as a mechanism for protecting toe tips, and that this ancestral genetic program was coopted to the growth of hair in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marjolein Carron
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University and Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Munevver Burcu Cicekdal
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University and Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Inge Bruggeman
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB-Ugent Center for Inflammation Research, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Suzan Demuynck
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Bahar Golabi
- Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Elfride De Baere
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University and Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Wim Declercq
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- VIB-Ugent Center for Inflammation Research, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Erwin Tschachler
- Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Kris Vleminckx
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Leopold Eckhart
- Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
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