Identification of Reptilian Genes Encoding Hair Keratin-Like Proteins Suggests a New Scenario for the Evolutionary Origin of Hair

    November 2008 in “ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ”
    Leopold Eckhart, Luisa Dalla Valle, Karin Jaeger … Erwin Tschachler
    Studysummary In this study, the researchers found that mammalian hair likely evolved through the adaptation of existing structural proteins, as similar cysteine-rich α-keratins were identified in chicken and lizard genomes, suggesting pre-mammalian origins.
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    Research cited in this study 9

    1. Novel Type I Hair Keratins K39 And K40 Are The Last To Be Expressed In Differentiation Of The Hair: Completion Of The Human Hair Keratin Catalog Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 2007
    2. The Organization of the Keratin I and II Gene Clusters in Placental Mammals and Marsupials Show a Striking Similarity European Journal of Cell Biology · 2005
    3. Terrestrial Vertebrates Have Two Keratin Gene Clusters; Striking Differences in Teleost Fish European Journal of Cell Biology · 2005
    4. The Human Type I Keratin Gene Family: Characterization of New Hair Follicle Specific Members and Evaluation of the Chromosome 17q21.2 Gene Domain Differentiation · 2004
    5. Dermo-Epidermal Interactions in Reptilian Scales: Speculations on the Evolution of Scales, Feathers, and Hairs Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution · 2004
    6. In Vitro Assembly and Structure of Trichocyte Keratin Intermediate Filaments ˜The œjournal of cell biology/˜The œJournal of cell biology · 2000
    7. A New Mutation in the Type II Hair Cortex Keratin hHb1 Involved in the Inherited Hair Disorder Monilethrix Human Genetics · 1997
    8. Mutations in the Hair Cortex Keratin HHB6 Cause the Inherited Hair Disease Monilethrix Nature Genetics · 1997
    9. Concerted Gene Duplications in the Two Keratin Gene Families Journal of Molecular Evolution · 1988

    Related research 1

    1. Hard and Soft Principles Defining the Structure, Function, and Regulation of Keratin Intermediate Filaments Current Opinion in Cell Biology · 2002