Merkel cell formation in hairy and glabrous skin

We describe Merkel cell formation in glabrous skin during embryogenesis. In our study, we first found that Merkel cells were specified at E15.5, 24 hours later, comparing to the back skin. Interestingly, by performing lineage-tracing experiments, we found that unlike back skin, SOX9(+) cells do not give rise to Merkel cells in glabrous skin. We performed transcriptional profiling of Merkel cells of the back and glabrous skin and showed that their transcriptoms are very similar. Taken together, Merkel cells in back skin and glabrous skin are similar, and their formation is controlled by a common genetic program, although their precursor cells might differ. Overall design: P0 mouse epidermal cells and Merkel Cell at back skin and paw were purified from Atoh1-GFP mice. RNA from the sorted cells was analyzed by RNA-seq.