FGF signalling controls the specification of hair placode-derived SOX9 positive progenitors to Merkel cells

Merkel cells are mechanoreceptors located in the epidermis whose developmental origin is unclear. Here the authors show that Merkel cells originate from SOX9 positive cells inside hair follicles and that FGFR2-mediated epithelial signalling is required for their specification.

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Minh Binh Nguyen, Idan Cohen, Vinod Kumar, Zijian Xu, Carmit Bar, Katherine L. Dauber-Decker, Pai-Chi Tsai, Pauline Marangoni, Ophir D. Klein, Ya-Chieh Hsu, Ting Chen, Marja L. Mikkola, Elena Ezhkova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2018-06-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04399-y