Epithelial appendages share a common developmental program that relies on extensive
interactions between epithelia and adjacent mesenchyme. The transcription factor p63 has a
critical role in epithelial appendage development in both vertebrates and non-vertebrates.
Both mice and zebrafish lacking p63 expression fail to develop epithelial appendages and
other structures that develop as a result of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions.
Furthermore, dominantly inherited mutations in p63 are the cause of a subset of human …