Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 8, 2025

Flat Mount Imaging of Mouse Skin and Its Application to the Analysis of Hair Follicle Patterning and Sensory Axon Morphology
Published on: June 25, 2014
Characterization and functional analysis of Krtap11-1 during hair follicle development in Angora rabbits (Oryctolagus
Shuang Liang1, Zhiyuan Bao1, Bohao Zhao1
1College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
Background:
Keratin-associated protein (KAP), the structural protein molecule of hair fibers, plays a key role in determining the physical properties of hair. Studies of Krtap11-1 have focused only on its localization. Functional studies of Krtap11-1 in hair follicle development have so far not been reported.
Objective:
This study aimed to provide evidence for the role of Krtap11-1 in skin and hair development.
Methods:
Full-length cloning and analysis of Krtap11-1 were conducted to ascertain its function. Overexpression vectors and interference sequences were constructed and transfected into RAB-9 cells. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to investigate the hair follicle developmental stage of Krtap11-1, the expression of different tissues, and the effects on other hair follicle development-related genes.
Results:
The full length of cloned Krtap11-1 was 947 bp. Krtap11-1 was confirmed to be a hydrophilic protein localized mostly in mitochondria. The greatest mRNA expression was observed in skin. Using a follicle synchronization model, it was found that Krtap11-1 mRNA expression levels first increased then decreased over the passage of time, principally during hair follicle catagen and telogen. Following the overexpression of Krtap11-1, mRNA expression levels of the WNT-2, KRT17, BMP-2, and TGF-β-1 genes increased, and LEF-1 decreased (P < 0.05), the converse after the corresponding use of si-RNA interference.
Conclusions:
Krtap11-1 exerts a promoting effect. The results provide novel insight into the relationship between hair follicle development and Krtap11-1 gene expression.
Related Concept Videos
Accessory Structures of the Skin: Hair and Hair Follicles
Hair is a keratinous filament growing out of the epidermis. It is primarily made of dead, keratinized cells. Hair strands originate at the epidermal penetration called the hair follicle. The hair shaft is the part...
Accessory Structures of the Skin: Hair Growth and Types
Epistasis
Determination
Multipotency and Niche of Bulge Stem Cell

