Discovery of a crucial connection in skin formation

<![CDATA[

Skin is the body’s armor, protecting us from disease agents, injury, excessive water loss, and cold and heat. Yet mutations in a single gene, the gene for the protein p63, cause numerous diseases and malformations of the uppermost layer of skin – the epidermis – and other tissues. In the epidermis, these range from skin cancers to dysplasias that cause cracking, bleeding, infection, and discoloration.

At top, p63 proteins labeled pink and Satb1 proteins labeled green are expressed together in the nuclei of cells in a normal (wild-type) developing epidermis. At bottom, green-glowing Satb1 is abundant in the epidermis of a wild-type mouse, but in a mouse without the p63 gene, Satb1 is not expressed.

A research team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and spearheaded by colleagues from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, including members from Boston University, has learned that p63 acts by directly regulating another protein, Satb1, which is a “genome organizer” – it controls gene expression in progenitor cells by temporarily remodeling chromatin, the structure that makes up the chromosomes and contains tightly wound DNA.

Ref and Read more: http://www.healthcanal.com/skin-hair-nails/20969-How-Key-Genes-Cooperate-Make-Healthy-Skin.html

]]>