[3] It has been hypothesized that the clustering of EDC genes occurred due to duplication events which were evolutionarily favored during the adaptation to terrestrial environments.
On the other hand, FLG genes of the SFTP family have become inactivated in sirenians, with the exception of manatees.
[5] EDC proteins have been involved in a variety of skin disorders including ichthyosis vulgaris, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.
[6] The epidermal differentiation complex was first described in 1993,[1] and further characterized in 1996, when Dietmar Mischke and colleagues noted the "close functional cooperation among [eleven] structurally and evolutionary related genes".
The CE is a cross-linked matrix that surrounds terminally differentiated squamous keratinocytes after a process known as cornification.