Tenascin-C expressing touch dome keratinocytes exhibit characteristics of all epidermal lineages.

Abstract

The touch dome (TD) keratinocytes are specialized epidermal cells that intimately associate with the light touch sensing Merkel cells (MCs). The TD keratinocytes function as a niche for the MCs and can induce de novo hair follicles upon stimulation; however, how the TD keratinocytes are maintained during homeostasis remains unclear. scRNA-seq identified a specific TD keratinocyte marker, <i>Tenascin-C</i> (TNC). Lineage tracing of <i>Tnc</i>-expressing TD keratinocytes revealed that these cells maintain themselves as an autonomous epidermal compartment and give rise to MCs upon injury. Molecular characterization uncovered that, while the transcriptional and chromatin landscape of the TD keratinocytes is remarkably similar to that of the interfollicular epidermal keratinocytes, it also shares certain molecular signatures with the hair follicle keratinocytes. Our study highlights that the TD keratinocytes in the adult skin have molecular characteristics of keratinocytes of diverse epidermal lineages.