Molecular markers of differentiation in the epidermis of the newborn rat.

Regulation in epidermal differentiation can best be studied if molecular mechanism can be associated with structural and functional changes. Such recognized associations include the cessation of mitosis through inhibition of DNA replication by a G1-inhibitor present in the suprabasal cells, the biosynthesis of a tonofilament-protein as an early event in keratinization, the biosynthesis of HRP0 (histidine-rich protein) and its polymerization to HRPI during the formation of keratohyalin, the conversion of HRPI to HRPII coincident with the loss of the nucleus from the granular cell, and the aggregation of the stratum corneum basic protein and keratin filaments to form fibers in the cornified cell. To this list can now be added changes in specificity for lectin-binding to the cell surface as the keratinocyte progresses toward the cutaneous surface. This report presents data on a) the conversion of HRPI to HRPII and b) the differential lectin-binding in the epidermis of the newborn rat. HRPI (Mol. Wgt. greater than or equal to 10(6)) and HRPII (Mol. Wgt. 6 X 10(4)) have similar unique amino acid compositions and exhibit extensive-but not complete-homology in primary structures as determined by peptide mapping after exposure to trypsin. When labeled by exposure in vivo to radioactivity histidine, about 75 of the labeled histidine from both HRPI and HRPII appeared in one peptide fraction in the map, HRPI appears to have on histidine-containing fragment which is not present in HRPII. This peptide appears to contain phosphate and to account for the organically-bound phosphate which was found in HRPI but not defected in HRPII. Changes which occur in the lectin-binding specificity of the cell during differentiation may result from either movement or chemical change in carbohydrates at the cell surface. Immunofluorescent studies have shown that an isolectin from Bandieraea simplicifolia with specificity for alpha-D-galactose binds to the surface of basal and lower spinous cells, a lectin from Ulex europaeus with specificity for alpha-L-focus labels spinous cells, and a second lectin from B. simplicifolia with specificity for N-acetyl-D-glucosamine labels cornified cells. The relationship fo these alterations in the carbohydrates of the cell surface in intracellular structural and/or functional changes in unknown.