Project description:Hair follicle formation depends on reciprocal epidermal-dermal interactions and occurs during skin development, but not in adult life. This suggests that the properties of dermal fibroblasts change during postnatal development. To examine this, we used a PdgfraEGFP mouse line to isolate GFP-positive fibroblasts from neonatal skin, adult telogen and anagen skin and adult skin in which ectopic hair follicles had been induced (EF skin) by transgenic epidermal activation of beta-catenin. We also isolated epidermal cells from each mouse. The gene expression profile of EF epidermis was most similar to that of anagen epidermis, consistent with activation of beta-catenin signalling. In contrast, adult dermis with ectopic hair follicles more closely resembled neonatal dermis than adult telogen or anagen dermis. In particular, genes associated with mitosis were upregulated and extracellular matrix-associated genes were downregulated in neonatal and EF fibroblasts. We confirmed that sustained epidermal beta-catenin activation stimulated fibroblasts to proliferate to reach the high cell density of neonatal skin. In addition, the extracellular matrix was comprehensively remodelled, with mature collagen being replaced by collagen subtypes normally present only in developing skin. The changes in proliferation and extracellular matrix composition originated from a specific subpopulation of fibroblasts located beneath the sebaceous gland. Our results show that adult dermis is an unexpectedly plastic tissue that can be reprogrammed to acquire the molecular, cellular and structural characteristics of neonatal dermis in response to cues from the overlying epidermis. We have isolated the following populations of cells from mouse back skin by flow cytometry: 1A) GFP+ WT neonatal dermal fibroblasts, 1B) ItgA6+ WT neonatal epidermal keratinocytes, 2A) GFP+ WT telogen dermal fibroblasts, 2B) ItgA6+ WT telogen epidermal keratinocytes, 3A) GFP+ D2 transient activation (anagen) dermal fibroblasts, 3B) ItgA6+ D2 transient activation (anagen) epidermal keratinocytes, 4A) GFP+ D2 sustained activation (ectopic follicles) dermal fibroblasts, 4B) ItgA6+ D2 sustained activation (ectopic follicles) epidermal keratinocytes
Project description:Dermal sheath (DS) shows potent hair inducing capability and high plasticity without leading to immuno rejection. A recent study showed a subset of DS cells, identified as hair follicle (HF) dermal stem cells, can be mobilized to regenerate DS, maintain/supply the cell number of dermal papilla (DP) and modulate hair type. However, it is unclear how Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates DS cells behaviors. Here we report that activation of β-catenin in DS, to some extent, endows it with hair inducing ability, reprogramming HF epidermal cells to generate new outgrowth. The new formed dermal condensates (DC)/DP lying adjacent the outgrowth derives from DS and/or its progeny, and homeostasis of pre-existing HFs is disturbed. Additionally, progressive skin fibrosis is prominent in hypodermis, where the excessive activated fibroblasts at least partially originate from DS and/or its progeny. Gene expression analysis of purified DS cells revealed that 44% DC signature genes are regulated, most of which are up-regulated. We found elevated expression of several growth factors, including Noggin, Fgf7 and Fgf10, which were previously implicated in HF induction. In summary, we confirm the high plasticity of DS cells by in vivo assays and report a mechanism by which Wnt/β-catenin signaling controls DS cells behaviors.
Project description:Hair follicle formation depends on reciprocal epidermal-dermal interactions and occurs during skin development, but not in adult life. This suggests that the properties of dermal fibroblasts change during postnatal development. To examine this, we used a PdgfraEGFP mouse line to isolate GFP-positive fibroblasts from neonatal skin, adult telogen and anagen skin and adult skin in which ectopic hair follicles had been induced (EF skin) by transgenic epidermal activation of beta-catenin. We also isolated epidermal cells from each mouse. The gene expression profile of EF epidermis was most similar to that of anagen epidermis, consistent with activation of beta-catenin signalling. In contrast, adult dermis with ectopic hair follicles more closely resembled neonatal dermis than adult telogen or anagen dermis. In particular, genes associated with mitosis were upregulated and extracellular matrix-associated genes were downregulated in neonatal and EF fibroblasts. We confirmed that sustained epidermal beta-catenin activation stimulated fibroblasts to proliferate to reach the high cell density of neonatal skin. In addition, the extracellular matrix was comprehensively remodelled, with mature collagen being replaced by collagen subtypes normally present only in developing skin. The changes in proliferation and extracellular matrix composition originated from a specific subpopulation of fibroblasts located beneath the sebaceous gland. Our results show that adult dermis is an unexpectedly plastic tissue that can be reprogrammed to acquire the molecular, cellular and structural characteristics of neonatal dermis in response to cues from the overlying epidermis.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:β-catenin activity of dermal cells is crucial for hair follicle neogenesis and strongly suggest that transcriptional target genes of β-catenin pathway are essential for maintaining trichogenicity of dermal cells. We used microarrays to identify genes targeted by the β-catenin pathway that are essential for maintaining the trichogenicity of dermal cells.