Evolutionary origin of Hoxc13-dependent skin appendages in amphibians

Marjolein Carron, Attila Placido Sachslehner, Munevver Burcu Cicekdal, Inge Bruggeman, Suzan Demuynck, Bahar Golabi, Elfride Baere, Wim Declercq, Erwin Tschachler, Kris Vleminckx () and Leopold Eckhart ()
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Marjolein Carron: Ghent University
Attila Placido Sachslehner: Medical University of Vienna
Munevver Burcu Cicekdal: Ghent University
Inge Bruggeman: Ghent University
Suzan Demuynck: Ghent University
Bahar Golabi: Medical University of Vienna
Elfride Baere: Ghent University Hospital
Wim Declercq: Ghent University
Erwin Tschachler: Medical University of Vienna
Kris Vleminckx: Ghent University
Leopold Eckhart: Medical University of Vienna

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Cornified skin appendages, such as hair and nails, are major evolutionary innovations of terrestrial vertebrates. Human hair and nails consist largely of special intermediate filament proteins, known as hair keratins, which are expressed under the control of the transcription factor Hoxc13. Here, we show that the cornified claws of Xenopus frogs contain homologs of hair keratins and the genes encoding these keratins are flanked by promoters in which binding sites of Hoxc13 are conserved. Furthermore, these keratins and Hoxc13 are co-expressed in the claw-forming epithelium of frog toe tips. Upon deletion of hoxc13, the expression of hair keratin homologs is abolished and the development of cornified claws is abrogated in X. tropicalis. These results indicate that Hoxc13-dependent expression of hair keratin homologs evolved already in stem tetrapods, presumably as a mechanism for protecting toe tips, and that this ancestral genetic program was coopted to the growth of hair in mammals.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46373-x

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