RACK1 prevents premature differentiation of epidermal progenitors by inhibiting IRF6 expression

To continuously maintain barrier function, skin progenitor cells perpetually proliferate and differentiate to contribute to the outermost layers. Perturbations in the balance between stem cell self-renewal and differentiation leads to a variety of disorders. Thus, it is critical to identify the factors that govern progenitor cell fate decisions. Here, we show RACK1 (GNB2l1) to be necessary to maintain epidermal progenitor cell self-renewal by transcriptionally repressing IRF6, a transcription factor critical for epithelial differentiation program initiation. Overall design: RNAseq analysis of human epidermal progenitor cells transfected with shRNA against RACK1 and Ctr. RNA sequenced in replicates.