Tadpole skin dies autonomously in response to thyroid hormone at metamorphosis.

Transgenic tadpoles that express a dominant negative thyroid hormone (TH) receptor specifically in their skin undergo normal metamorphosis, with one exception: they retain a larval epidermis over the developing adult epithelium. TH-induced death of the tadpole epidermis is inhibited by the dominant negative TH receptor whereas the TH-induced response of the neighboring fibroblasts and the cells that form the adult skin occur normally. Therefore death of the tadpole skin is a direct and cell autonomous target of TH, and its protection has no detectable influence on TH-induced changes of other cell types.