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Updated: May 16, 2026

De Novo Generation of Somatic Stem Cells by YAP/TAZ
Published on: May 7, 2018
Yap controls stem/progenitor cell proliferation in the mouse postnatal epidermis
Annemiek Beverdam1, Christina Claxton, Xiaomeng Zhang
1School for Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. a.beverdam@uq.edu.au
Abstract:
Tissue renewal is an ongoing process in the epithelium of the skin. We have begun to examine the genetic mechanisms that control stem/progenitor cell activation in the postnatal epidermis. The conserved Hippo pathway regulates stem cell turnover in arthropods through to vertebrates. Here we show that its downstream effector, yes-associated protein (YAP), is active in the stem/progenitor cells of the postnatal epidermis. Overexpression of a C-terminally truncated YAP mutant in the basal epidermis of transgenic mice caused marked expansion of epidermal stem/progenitor cell populations. Our data suggest that the C-terminus of YAP controls the balance between stem/progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation in the postnatal interfollicular epidermis. We conclude that YAP functions as a molecular switch of stem/progenitor cell activation in the epidermis. Moreover, our results highlight YAP as a possible therapeutic target for diseases such as skin cancer, psoriasis, and epidermolysis bullosa.
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