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An ancient control of epithelial barrier formation and wound healing
Author(s) -
Moussian Bernard,
Uv Anne E.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.20308
Subject(s) - biology , microbiology and biotechnology , wound healing , regeneration (biology) , transcription factor , epithelium , gene , evolutionary biology , genetics
Animal epithelia are lined with apical surface matrices, which protect against pathogens, dehydration and physical damage of the underlying cells. The proteins and polysaccharides that comprise these protective barriers vary greatly within the animal kingdom and have evolved in response to the biological needs of various organisms. Yet the genetic control of barrier formation and its regeneration upon wounding appears conserved between vertebrates and insects that are evolutionary more than several hundred millions of years apart.1,2 A key role is carried out by Grainy head, a phylogenetically conserved transcription factor expressed in epidermal cells in nematodes, flies, frogs, mice and humans. BioEssays 27:987–990, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.