First published online February 24, 2006
Development 133, 601e (2006)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
NF-
B: making mice furry
What makes our furry friends furry? Well, the fur of mice actually consists
of several hair types, such as guard, awl, auchene and downy zigzag hairs, but
little is known about the signals that direct their development. Now, on p.
1045, Schmidt-Ullrich
et al. report that the transcription factor NF-
B controls the
proliferation (but not the initiation) of guard hair placodes and their growth
into the mesoderm to form hair follicles. Mice with suppressed NF-B
activity or with defects in ectodysplasin A1 (Eda A1; tabby mice) or
its receptor (EdaR; downless mice) have similar hair defects. By
crossing NF-B reporter mice with tabby and downless
mice, the researchers show that Eda A1/EdaR signalling activates NF-B,
which then controls guard hair placode down growth by inducing sonic hedgehog
and cyclin D1 expression. Eda A1/EdaR/NF-B signalling also controls the
morphology of other hair types, and additional signals regulate NF-B
activity to control follicle growth. Thus, these findings provide new insights
into the molecular mechanisms that regulate hair development.
Related articles in Development:
- NF-B transmits Eda A1/EdaR signalling to activate Shh and cyclin D1 expression, and controls post-initiation hair placode down growth
- Ruth Schmidt-Ullrich, Desmond J. Tobin, Diana Lenhard, Pascal Schneider, Ralf Paus, and Claus Scheidereit
Development 2006 133: 1045-1057.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
