Source: Rockefeller University
Date: February 14, 2008
Summary:
Genes, it turns out, are only as active as the signals that turn them on and off. Now scientists from Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Institute have identified the signaling molecule that ratchets up and clamps down the activity of key genes in dermal papilla, a type of skin cell whose unique collection of proteins ultimately instruct epithelial stem cells to make hair. The research, which will be published in the February 15 issue of Genes & Development, highlights the cross talk between these two cell types and how this signaling molecule, a protein called BMP, is crucial for this exchange.
