Project description:Transcriptome analysis on Gata3 conditional knock out murine hair follicles. Background. The transcription factor Gata3 is critically involved in epidermis and hair follicle differentiation. Yet, little is known about how Gata3 co-ordinates stem cell lineage determination in skin, which processes are mostly implicated and how Gata3 differentially regulates distinct cell populations within the hair follicle. Here, we describe a conditional Gata3-/- mouse (K14-Gata3-/-) in which Gata3 is specifically deleted in epidermis and hair follicles. Principal findings. K14-Gata3-/- mice show aberrant postnatal growth and development, delayed hair growth and maintenance, abnormal hair follicle organization and irregular pigmentation. After the first hair cycle, the germinative layer surrounding the dermal papilla was not restored; instead, proliferation was pronounced in basal epidermal cells. Transcriptome analysis of laser-dissected K14-Gata3-/- hair follicles as compared to wild type littermate controls, revealed mitosis, epithelial differentiation and the Notch, WNT and BMP signalling pathways to comprise significantly overrepresented processes. Conclusions. Subsequent elucidation of these pathways at the RNA and protein levels and physiologic endpoints shows that Gata3 integrates diverse signalling networks to regulate the balance between hair follicle and epidermal cell fates.
Project description:Mouse hair follicles undergo synchronized cycles. Cyclical regeneration and hair growth is fueled by hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs). We used RNA-seq to identify SOX9-dependent transcriptional changes and ChIP-seq to identify SOX9-bound genes in HF-SCs. Telogen quiescent hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) and intefollicular epidermal cells (IFE) were FACS-purified for ChIP-sequcencing and HFSCs for RNA-Sequencing
