A novel gene homologous to teashirt is differentially expressed in neonatal mouse skin during development of hair follicles.

Neonatal mouse skin is useful for studying changes in gene expression during development of hair follicles, as the mitotic activity of skin cells changes shortly after birth. Using ribonucleic acid (RNA) differential display, a 261-nt message has been identified in the skin, specifically on d 3-5 but not on d 2 after birth. Confirmation of its expression by ribonuclease protection assay showed that stronger expression is seen on d 3-5 compared with d 1-2. Using RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of 5' complementary deoxyribonucleic acid ends, we have successfully isolated a 3046-bp gene, which has 93% sequence homology to a mouse teashirt1 gene. Amino acid analysis showed that it has 74% identity to the mouse teashirt1 protein and possesses zinc-finger motifs 1, 2, and 3. In situ hybridization data revealed that it is mainly expressed in the follicle bulb, including dermal papilla and matrix cells. As the proliferation of bulb cells is important to follicle development during this period, the finding of its strong expression on d 3-5 suggests that the identified gene is a potential candidate for follicle growth.