A spatio-temporal characterization of the transcriptional landscape of epidermal development. Mus musculus

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. Overall design: Epidermal keratinocytes were purified from embryonic mouse backskin via FACS sorting at multiple time points during development. RNA was extracted, cDNA libraries created and RNA sequencing was run on the samples.