Molecular characterisation of the vestibular lamina

The Vestibular lamina (VL) is a transient epithelial structure that develops into the oral vestibule, forming the upper and lower lip furrow. The VL shares a common origin with the neighbouring dental lamina (DL), from which the dentition arises. The two laminas develop in parallel, the VL forming labially/buccally to the DL. In a number of mouse mutants impacting the Wnt and Shh pathways, the VL forms tooth germs, highlighting the early conserved development of the two laminas. Defects in the VL and DL are a prominent feature of a number of ciliopathies, such as Ellis-van Creveld (EvC) syndrome, and form an essential part of the initial diagnosis. Despite this, the VL is largely ignored in odontogenetic studies, and currently we have limited knowledge on the molecular regulatory mechanisms of the VL during development. Here we provide a bulk RNASeq transcriptome of the VL and adjacent forming incisor tooth germ at E14, created from dissected murine lower jaw tissue. This dataset provides markers for the VL, and will help our understanding of the patterning of the VL, its interaction with the DL, and the mechanisms underlying pathogenesis of the VL, providing a base for further studies in the VL defects in EvC syndrome and other ciliopathies.