Tissue geometry patterns epidermal stem cell fate in murine interfollicular skin

Local dermal-epidermal junction (DEJ) curvature in mouse epidermis predicts daughter-cell fate up to three days before mother-cell division, with concave valleys favoring proliferation and convex ridges favoring differentiation.

• Why it matters: Tissue architecture must preserve spatial stem-cell renewal and differentiation despite ongoing turnover, but how physical geometry shapes fate decisions over time is unclear.
• What they did: The team used longitudinal intravital imaging and quantitative morphology and lineage tracking to relate DEJ curvature to lineage outcomes, marker expression, and clonal expansion, and tested human epidermal equivalents on devitalized dermis.
• The result: DEJ geometry stayed stable for weeks across multiple epidermal generations, and the valley-associated basal retention persisted without living dermal cells, implying stable architecture patterns fate probabilities across generations.

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