title: Epididymal cysteine-rich secretory protein 1 encoding gene is expressed in murine hair follicles and downregulated in mice overexpressing Hoxc13.
abstract: Members of the Hox gene family of transcriptional regulators are believed to play essential roles in hair follicle differentiation, although little is known about the molecular mechanisms mediating these putative control functions. Transgenic mice overexpressing Hoxc13 in hair follicles (GC13 mice) exhibit complex phenotypic alterations including hair shaft defects and alopecia, as well as severe epidermal abnormalities. To identify some of the genetic pathways affected by Hoxc13 overexpression in hair, we performed large-scale differential gene expression analysis on the skin of 5-d GC13 versus normal FVB mice using DNA chip assays. A surprising result of these experiments was the identification of the epididymal cysteine-rich secretory protein 1 (Crisp1) gene as one of the genes with the greatest expression differential, in this case with greater than 20-fold downregulation in skin from GC13 mice. Crisp1 encodes a secreted protein that has originally been found to be abundantly expressed in the epididymis, where it plays a role in sperm maturation. We have localized Crisp1 mRNA in 5-d postnatal murine scapular skin by in situ hybridization, showing its expression to be restricted to the medulla of the hair shaft. Furthermore, we provide evidence for specific interaction of Hoxc13 with at least one cognate binding site found in the Crisp1 promoter region, thus supporting the concept of a Hoxc13/Crisp1 regulatory relationship. In summary, these data establish the hair as a novel site for Crisp1 expression where its functional role remains to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Integrative Expression Profiling, Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachussetts, USA.
authors.forename: Ron L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Tatiana V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Tkatchenko
authors.forename: Nathanael D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Pruett
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.forename: Donna F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Awgulewitsch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D024202:Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; D030501:Epididymal Secretory Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004822:Epididymis / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000378:metabolism*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: C486321:Crisp1 protein, mouse; D030501:Epididymal Secretory Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C485834:Hoxc13 protein, mouse; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins