A spatio-temporal characterization of the transcriptional landscape of epidermal development

The mouse epidermis develops from a single layer of cells at e9.5 to a fully formed organ at birth capable of performing essential functions. The regularity of the epidermal differentiation program creates an excellent system to explore the mechanisms required for this transition from transit amplifying/ stem cell to differentiated cell and to identify key regulators in this biological process. Here we use FACS sorting of transgenic mice to separate the developing epidermis into its differentiating populations. Though many key players in epidermal differentiation have been identified, the challenge of examining the process in vivo has limited discovery of novel associated pathways and proteins. With this profiling we aim to create a map of epidermal development for identificatin of novel regulators of this process.

小鼠表皮始于胚胎第9.5天（e9.5）的单层细胞，最终发育为出生时具备核心生理功能的成熟器官。表皮分化程序的高度规律性，使其成为探究从瞬时扩增细胞/干细胞向分化细胞转化所需机制、并鉴定该生物学过程关键调控因子的理想模型系统。尽管目前已鉴定出诸多参与表皮分化的关键因子，但在活体状态下研究该过程的技术难点，仍限制了新型相关通路与蛋白质的发现。本研究通过对转基因小鼠实施荧光激活细胞分选（Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting, FACS），将发育中的表皮分离为不同分化细胞群。基于该表达谱分析，本研究旨在构建表皮发育图谱，以鉴定该过程中的新型调控因子。