OBJECTIVE An experiment was conducted to determine the relationship between the KAP11.1 and the regulation wool fineness. METHODS In previous work, we constructed a skin cDNA library and isolated a full-length cDNA clone termed KAP11.1. On this basis, we conducted a series of bioinformatics analysis. Tissue distribution of KAP11.1 mRNA was performed using semi-quantitative reverse transcripti...

Directed expression of SV40 large T antigen (TAg) in transgenic mice can induce tissue-specific tumorigenesis and useful cell lines exhibiting differentiated characteristics can be established from resultant tumor cells. In an attempt to produce an immortalised mouse hair follicle cortical cell line for the study of hair keratin gene control, SV40 TAg expression was targeted to the hair follicl...

A new mechanoreceptor organ, the "coronal organ," located in the oral siphon, is described by light and electron microscopy in the colonial ascidians Botryllus schlosseri and Botrylloides violaceus. It is composed of a line of sensory cells (hair cells), accompanied by supporting cells, that runs continuously along the margin of the velum and tentacles of the siphon. These hair cells resemble t...

The adult mammalian cochlea receives dual afferent innervation: the inner sensory hair cells are innervated exclusively by type I spiral ganglion neurons (SGN), whereas the sensory outer hair cells are innervated by type II SGN. We have characterized the spatiotemporal reorganization of the dual afferent innervation pattern as it is established in the developing mouse cochlea. This reorganizati...

Hair diameter and curvature are two characteristics of human scalp hair used in forensic contexts. While previous data show that subjective categorization of hair curvature is highly heritable, the heritability of objectively measured curvature and diameter, and variability of hair characteristics within each individual have not yet been studied. The present study measured hair diameter and cur...

When a hair cell is stimulated by positive deflection of its hair bundle, increased tension in gating springs opens transduction channels, permitting cations to enter stereocilia and depolarize the cell. Ca2+ is thought to be required in mechanoelectrical transduction, for exposure of hair bundles to Ca2+ chelators eliminates responsiveness by disrupting tip links, filamentous interstereociliar...

The quantitative analysis of fluorescence in frozen sections of rat inner ears exposed to Texas Red conjugated gentamicin revealed distinct gradients of gentamicin fluorescence. At 500 µg/ml gentamicin fluorescence occurred in inner and outer hair cells, the interdental cell region, the spiral limbus below the interdental cells, the nerve fiber bundle in the spiral lamina, the inner sulcus cell...

Human hair is a biological layered system composed of two major layers, the cortex and the cuticle. We show spectrally resolved ellipsometry measurements of the ellipsometric parameters Psi and Delta of single human hairs. The spectra reflect the layered nature of hair and the optical anisotropy of the hair's structure. In addition, measurements on strands of human hair show a high reproducibil...

beta-Catenin signaling is required for hair follicle development, but it is unknown whether its activation is sufficient to globally program embryonic epidermis to hair follicle fate. To address this, we mutated endogenous epithelial beta-catenin to a dominant-active form in vivo. Hair follicle placodes were expanded and induced prematurely in activated beta-catenin mutant embryos, but failed t...

Bacterial pilogenesis is a remarkable example of biological non-templated self-assembly where a small number of different building blocks are arranged in a specific order resulting in a macroscopic hair-like fiber containing up to thousands copies of protein subunits. A number of advanced experimental techniques have been used to understand pilus growth. While details such as the conformation o...