title: The Caenorhabditis elegans epidermis as a model skin. I: development, patterning, and growth.
abstract: The skin of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is composed of a simple epidermal epithelium and overlying cuticle. The skin encloses the animal and plays central roles in body morphology and physiology; its simplicity and accessibility make it a tractable genetic model for several aspects of skin biology. Epidermal precursors are specified by a hierarchy of transcriptional regulators. Epidermal cells form on the dorsal surface of the embryo and differentiate to form the epidermal primordium, which then spreads out in a process of epiboly to enclose internal tissues. Subsequent elongation of the embryo into a vermiform larva is driven by cell shape changes and cell fusions in the epidermis. Most epidermal cells fuse in mid-embryogenesis to form a small number of multinucleate syncytia. During mid-embryogenesis the epidermis also becomes intimately associated with underlying muscles, performing a tendon-like role in transmitting muscle force. Post-embryonic development of the epidermis involves growth by addition of new cells to the syncytia from stem cell-like epidermal seam cells and by an increase in cell size driven by endoreplication of the chromosomes in epidermal nuclei.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. chisholm@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Chisholm
authors.forename: Tiffany I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Hsiao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D003599:Cytoskeleton; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009024:Morphogenesis; D015398:Signal Transduction; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta
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