Nature Communications (Apr 2018)

Contraction of basal filopodia controls periodic feather branching via Notch and FGF signaling

  • Dongyang Cheng,
  • Xiaoli Yan,
  • Guofu Qiu,
  • Juan Zhang,
  • Hanwei Wang,
  • Tingting Feng,
  • Yarong Tian,
  • Haiping Xu,
  • Meiqing Wang,
  • Wanzhong He,
  • Ping Wu,
  • Randall B Widelitz,
  • Cheng-Ming Chuong,
  • Zhicao Yue

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03801-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Keratinocytes are organised into a periodic pattern in feather branching, but how this is regulated is unclear. Here, the authors show that there is a coordinated change in cell shape and adherence, mediated by Notch, FGF signalling and Rho GTPases, which in turn regulates feather branching.