Complex Gene Loss and Duplication Events Have Facilitated the Evolution of Multiple Loricrin Genes in Diverse Bird Species.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of a mechanically resilient epidermis was a key adaptation in the transition of amniotes to a fully terrestrial lifestyle. Skin appendages usually form via a specialized type of programmed cell death known as cornification which is characterized by the formation of an insoluble cornified envelope (CE). Many of the substrates of cornification are encoded by linked genes located at a conserved genetic locus known as the epidermal differentiation complex (EDC). Loricrin is the main protein component of the mammalian CE and is encoded for by a gene located within the EDC. Recently, genes resembling mammalian loricrin, along with several other proteins most likely involved in CE formation, have been identified within the EDC of birds and several reptiles. To better understand the

SUBMITTER: Davis AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6447390 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature