title: ΔNp63 is regulated by BMP4 signaling and is required for early epidermal development in Xenopus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been established in several models that the p63 gene has an important role in the development of the epidermis and its derivatives. In Xenopus, only the ΔNp63 isoform of this gene has been cloned and its role during epidermal development remains unknown.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this work, we showed that ΔNp63 is expressed in the nonneural ectoderm since the gastrula stage and that it is regulated by the bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) signaling pathway. Our in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that ΔNp63 is required in the earliest inductive steps of epidermal development. The overexpression of ΔNp63 caused an increase in epidermal markers with a suppression of neural induction while the blocking of ΔNp63 led to the opposite results. Finally, we found that ΔNp63 acts as an anti-apoptotic gene, regulating the transcription of some apoptotic and anti-apoptotic factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that ΔNp63 is an essential gene in early epidermal specification under the control of BMP4.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología del Desarrollo, INSIBIO (CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Tucumán), San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina. celtrib@fbqf.unt.edu.ar
authors.forename: Celeste
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tríbulo
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guadalupe Barrionuevo
authors.forename: Tristán H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Agüero
authors.forename: Sara S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: Nora B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Calcaterra
authors.forename: Manuel J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Aybar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D055415:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D004817:Epidermis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics*; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D055415:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4; D010750:Phosphoproteins; C488640:TP63 protein, Xenopus; D015534:Trans-Activators; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; C525812:bmp4 protein, Xenopus