Myostatin-deficient medaka exhibit a double-muscling phenotype with hyperplasia and hypertrophy, which occur sequentially during post-hatch development

Myostatin (MSTN) functions as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle mass. In mammals, MSTN-deficient animals result in an increase of skeletal muscle mass with both hyperplasia and hypertrophy. A MSTN gene is highly conserved within the fish species, allowing speculation that MSTN-deficient fish could exhibit a double-muscled phenotype. Some strategies for blocking or knocking down MSTN in adult fish have been already performed; however, these fish show either only hyperplastic or hypertrophic growth in muscle fiber. Therefore, the role of MSTN in fish myogenesis during post-hatch growth remains unclear. To address this question, we have made MSTN-deficient medaka (mstnC315Y) by using the targeting induced local lesions in a genome method. mstnC315Y can reproduce and have the same survival period as WT medaka. Growth rates of WT and mstnC315Y were measured at juvenile (1–2 wk post-hatching), post-juvenile (3–7 wk post-hatching) and adult (8–16 wk post-hatching) stages. In addition, effects of MSTN on skeletal muscle differentiation were investigated at histological and molecular levels at each developmental stage. As a result, mstnC315Y show a significant increase in body weight from the post-juvenile to adult stage. Hyper-morphogenesis of skeletal muscle in mstnC315Y was accomplished due to hyperplastic growth from post-juvenile to early adult stage, followed by hypertrophic growth in the adult stage. Myf-5 and MyoD were up-regulated in mstnC315Y at the hyperplastic growth phase, while myogenin was highly expressed in mstnC315Y at the hypertrophic growth phase. These indicated that MSTN in medaka plays a dual role for muscle fiber development. In conclusion, MSTN in medaka regulates the number and size of muscle fiber in a temporally-controlled manner during posthatch growth.     

Mutations in the Myostatin gene leading to hypermuscularity in mammals: indications for a similar mechanism in fish?

The transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) superfamily encodes secreted factors that are important in regulating embryonic development and tissue homeostatis in adults. Myostatin (MSTN, encoded by MSTN) or 'growth and differentiation factor 8', a member of this superfamily, is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth and is highly conserved among animal species. In 1997, a mutation associated with the so-called double-muscling phenotype in cattle was found in the MSTN gene. During the years following the discovery of the first MSTN mutation, other mutations were found in cattle and other mammalian species, and MSTN became one of the most thoroughly studied genes in animals. The aim of this review is mainly to describe the functional mutations located in the MSTN genes of several mammalian species, leading to double muscling in these animals. Furthermore, in light of the increasing importance of fish genetics, the possibility of functional mutations in piscine MSTN with a similar effect as in mammals, and a genetic model for MSTN research in fish, will also be discussed.     

Myostatin: a novel insight into its role in metabolism, signal pathways, and expression regulation

Myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily, is a critical autocrine/paracrine inhibitor of skeletal muscle growth. Since the first observed double-muscling phenotype was reported in myostatin-null animals, a functional role of myostatin has been demonstrated in the control of skeletal muscle development. However, beyond the confines of its traditional role in muscle growth inhibition, myostatin has recently been shown to play an important role in metabolism. During the past several years, it has been well established that Smads are canonical mediators of signals for myostatin from the receptors to the nucleus. However, growing evidence supports the notion that Non-Smad signal pathways also participate in myostatin signaling. Myostatin expression is increased in muscle atrophy and metabolic disorders, suggesting that changes in endogenous expression of myostatin may provide therapeutic benefit for these diseases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression and recent evidence has accumulated supporting a role for miRNAs in the regulation of myostatin expression. This review highlights some of these areas in myostatin research: a novel role in metabolism, signal pathways, and miRNA-mediated expression regulation.     

大黄鱼MSTN成熟肽区基因的原核表达

根据本实验室克隆的大黄鱼肌肉生长抑制素(MSTN)基因编码序列设计引物,通过RT-PCR法扩增大黄鱼MSTN成熟肽区域的基因,将目的片段插入pMD18-T克隆质粒,并测序验证。验证后用BamHⅠ和HindⅢ限制性内切酶酶切含目的片段的pMD18-T克隆质粒和pET-28 a表达质粒,构建MSTN-pET-28 a重组表达质粒。将重组表达质粒转化至BL21菌中,经IPTG诱导后表达蛋白的大小约17 kD。     

Myostatin deficiency but not anti‐myostatin blockade induces marked proteomic changes in mouse skeletal muscle

Pharmacologic blockade of the myostatin (Mstn)/activin receptor pathway is being pursued as a potential therapy for several muscle wasting disorders. The functional benefits of blocking this pathway are under investigation, in particular given the findings that greater muscle hypertrophy results from Mstn deficiency arising from genetic ablation compared to post‐developmental Mstn blockade. Using high‐resolution MS coupled with SILAC mouse technology, we quantitated the relative proteomic changes in gastrocnemius muscle from Mstn knockout (Mstn^?/?) and mice treated for 2‐weeks with REGN1033, an anti‐Mstn antibody. Relative to wild‐type animals, Mstn^?/? mice had a two‐fold greater muscle mass and a >1.5‐fold change in expression of 12.0% of 1137 quantified muscle proteins. In contrast, mice treated with REGN1033 had minimal changes in muscle proteome (0.7% of 1510 proteins >1.5‐fold change, similar to biological difference 0.5% of 1310) even though the treatment induced significant 20% muscle mass increase. Functional annotation of the altered proteins in Mstn^?/? mice corroborates the mutiple physiological changes including slow‐to‐fast fiber type switch. Thus, the proteome‐wide protein expression differs between Mstn^?/? mice and mice subjected to specific Mstn blockade post‐developmentally, providing molecular‐level insights to inform mechanistic hypotheses to explain the observed functional differences.     

Ghrelin及其类似物BIM-28131、BIM-28125对大鼠心衰模型肌肉生长抑制素表达的影响

目的:探讨Ghrelin及其类似物对大鼠慢性心力衰竭(CHF)模型肌肉生长抑制素表达的影响。方法:实验组慢性心衰模型大鼠分别注射两种不同浓度的ghrelin、ghrelin类似物BIM-28125和BIM-28131(50和500 nmol/kg/天)而对照组则注射等量的安慰剂。通过渗透微型泵给药,RT-PCR和免疫印迹反应检测肌肉生长抑制素的表达,并且测定腓肠肌的重量以及血浆肿瘤坏死因子α(TNF-α)水平。结果:与给予安慰剂的CHF大鼠相比,假手术组大鼠腓肠肌肌肉重量显著增加;高浓度的ghrelin类似物BIM-28125和BIM-28131可使肌肉生长抑制素m RNA的表达显著减少;两种浓度的ghrelin、BIM-28131及低浓度的BIM-28125可使肌肉生长抑制素蛋白表达明显减少。实验中使用的药物均能够缓解CHF动物模型血浆TNF-α水平的增加。结论:在CHF动物模型,应用ghrelin及类似物BIM-28125和BIM-28131后,肌肉生长抑制素的表达明显减少,这可能是由于抗炎作用导致的。     

Myostatin signals through Pax7 to regulate satellite cell self-renewal

Myostatin, a Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-beta) super-family member, has previously been shown to negatively regulate satellite cell activation and self-renewal. However, to date the mechanism behind Myostatin function in satellite cell biology is not known. Here we show that Myostatin signals via a Pax7-dependent mechanism to regulate satellite cell self-renewal. While excess Myostatin inhibited Pax7 expression via ERK1/2 signaling, an increase in Pax7 expression was observed following both genetic inactivation and functional antagonism of Myostatin. As a result, we show that either blocking or inactivating Myostatin enhances the partitioning of the fusion-incompetent self-renewed satellite cell lineage (high Pax7 expression, low MyoD expression) from the pool of actively proliferating myogenic precursor cells. Consistent with this result, over-expression of Pax7 in C2C12 myogenic cells resulted in increased self-renewal through a mechanism which slowed both myogenic proliferation and differentiation. Taken together, these results suggest that increased expression of Pax7 promotes satellite cell self-renewal, and furthermore Myostatin may control the process of satellite cell self-renewal through regulation of Pax7. Thus we speculate that, in addition to the intrinsic factors (such as Pax7), extrinsic factors both positive and negative in nature, will play a major role in determining the stemness of skeletal muscle satellite cells.     

Effect of siRNA targeted against MKK4 on myostatin-induced downregulation of differentiation marker gene expression

The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway was reported to be involved in myostatin signaling and MKK4 was suggested as the only upstream kinase for myostatin-induced JNK activation, implying that MKK4 is a suitable target of RNA interference (RNAi) for blocking myostatin activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeted against MKK4 on myostatin-induced downregulation of differentiation marker gene expression. Real-time quantitative PCR revealed that the level of MKK4 expression was efficiently reduced by MKK4-specific siRNA. Western blot assays showed that knockdown of MKK4 attenuated the myostatin-induced downregulation of MyoD and myogenin expression.     

团头鲂MSTN基因cDNA结构、表达及过表达对胚胎发育的影响

研究通过cDNA末端快速扩增法(RACE)克隆得到团头鲂生长抑制素(MSTN)基因的cDNA全长并分析了MSTN基因在团头鲂胚胎、成鱼组织中表达以及MSTN基因在胚胎中过表达情况。结果表明团头鲂MSTN基因的cDNA全长为2187 bp, ORF(开放阅读框)大小为1128 bp, 编码376个氨基酸。组织逆转录PCR (RT-PCR)结果显示, MSTN基因在肌肉、脑和精巢组织中大量表达, 肝脏、脾脏和卵巢组织中的少量表达, 肠、腮、心、眼和肾组织中的微量表达。胚胎逆转录PCR (RT-PCR)结果显示, 在0—44 hpf胚胎发育阶段, MSTN基因表达量较低; 而在48—52 hpf胚胎发育阶段, MSTN基因表达量逐渐升高。整胚原位杂交(WISH)结果显示, 胚胎发育的16 hpf时期MSTN基因主要在脊索中表达, 胚胎发育的28 hpf和55 hpf时期MSTN基因在脑中表达。MSTN基因过表达结果显示, 胚胎在体节发生期出现前-后轴拉长, 背-腹轴变短; 脊索发生扭曲, 强烈抑制体节发育而导致不分化等现象。研究为后续团头鲂MSTN基因的功能研究及团头鲂分子育种提供相关参考依据。     

一种用于提高基因打靶效率的双荧光筛选策略

同源重组介导的基因打靶技术因其准确性高、引入的突变可以预测,已经成为功能基因组研究的重要工具。但是在真核生物体内,天然同源重组的概率极低,对后续的筛选和鉴别造成很大困扰。因此,建立一个广谱性的高效筛选策略极为重要。研究基于"双荧光"的可视化筛选,通过提高筛选效率,从而建立了一种显著提高同源重组打靶效率的新策略。该策略以绿色荧光蛋白基因和新霉素基因为正筛选标记,以红色荧光蛋白基因为负筛选标记。经过G418筛选后,挑取仅表达绿色荧光蛋白的抗性克隆,用于跨界PCR检测。研究尝试运用上述新策略,借助CRISPR/Cas9技术,对猪肌抑素基因进行同源重组介导的基因打靶。在选取的T1和T2两个靶位点处,"双荧光"策略筛选的细胞阳性率分别达到80.5%和86.7%,筛选效率得到显著提高。研究建立的"双荧光"可视化筛选策略具有高效性和广谱性,在动物基因编辑领域具有广阔的应用前景。