Ovo Like Protein 2 (OVOL2)

Ovol2 belongs to the Ovo family of evolutionarily conserved zinc finger transcription factors that act downstream of key developmental signaling pathways including Wg/Wnt and BMP/TGF-beta. Ovol2 expression in the basal layer of epidermis, where epidermal stem/progenitor cells reside. Ovol2 depletion also accelerates extracellular signal-induced terminal differentiation in two- and three-dimensional culture models.

Ovol2 directly represses two critical downstream targets, c-Myc and Notch1, thereby suppressing keratinocyte transient proliferation and terminal differentiation, respectively. These findings shed light on how an epidermal cell maintains a proliferation-competent and differentiation-resistant state.