Balancing the skin: antagonistic ubiquitin-like signaling pathways govern epidermal homeostasis
Katrin Rietscher, Benjamin Klein · 2026
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Description
Katrin Rietscher and Benjamin Klein comment on a study in Science by Winge and colleagues that found two rival chemical tagging systems battling over the fate of skin cells. The epidermis renews itself constantly as stem cells in its base produce keratinocytes that harden and rise. Tags added to proteins after they are built help steer that journey.
Winge's team combined gene-perturbation screens, protein measurement, and spatial gene mapping in human keratinocytes and animal models. Two tag types pulled in opposite directions: adding NEDD8, a small protein tag, pushed cells to stay undifferentiated in effect, while blocking that pathway triggered differentiation. The second tag system, built on SUMO2, worked the other way, since breaking it stalled maturation. Rietscher and Klein frame the pair as a balance dial for skin renewal, with consequences for wound repair and skin disease when the dial slips.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Katrin Rietscher, Benjamin Klein |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 8 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |