The Caenorhabditis elegans epidermis as a model skin. I: development, patterning, and growth

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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. WIREs Dev Biol 2012 doi: 10.1002/wdev.79 For further resources related to this article, please visit the

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Animals Epidermis Caenorhabditis elegans Transforming Growth Factor beta Homeodomain Proteins Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins Larva Signal Transduction Cell Lineage Cell Differentiation