Negative Auto-Regulation of Myostatin Expression is Mediated by Smad3 and MicroRNA-27

Growth factors, such as myostatin (Mstn), play an important role in regulating post-natal myogenesis. In fact, loss of Mstn has been shown to result in increased post-natal muscle growth through enhanced satellite cell functionality; while elevated levels of Mstn result in dramatic skeletal muscle wasting through a mechanism involving reduced protein synthesis and increased ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. Here we show that miR-27a/b plays an important role in feed back auto-regulation of Mstn and thus regulation of post-natal myogenesis. Sequence analysis of Mstn 3′ UTR showed a single highly conserved miR-27a/b binding site and increased expression of miR-27a/b was correlated with decreased expression of Mstn and vice versa both in vitro and in mice in vivo. Moreover, we also show that Mstn gene expression was regulated by miR-27a/b. Treatment with miR-27a/b-specific AntagomiRs resulted in increased Mstn expression, reduced myoblast proliferation, impaired satellite cell activation and induction of skeletal muscle atrophy that was rescued upon either blockade of, or complete absence of, Mstn. Consistent with this, miR-27a over expression resulted in reduced Mstn expression, skeletal muscle hypertrophy and an increase in the number of activated satellite cells, all features consistent with impaired Mstn function. Loss of Smad3 was associated with increased levels of Mstn, concomitant with decreased miR-27a/b expression, which is consistent with impaired satellite cell function and muscular atrophy previously reported in Smad3-null mice. Interestingly, treatment with Mstn resulted in increased miR-27a/b expression, which was shown to be dependent on the activity of Smad3. These data highlight a novel auto-regulatory mechanism in which Mstn, via Smad3 signaling, regulates miR-27a/b and in turn its own expression. In support, Mstn-mediated inhibition of Mstn 3′ UTR reporter activity was reversed upon miR-27a/b-specific AntagomiR transfection. Therefore, miR-27a/b, through negatively regulating Mstn, plays a role in promoting satellite cell activation, myoblast proliferation and preventing muscle wasting.     

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.     

Characterization of a cardiac-specific enhancer, which directs {alpha}-cardiac actin gene transcription in the mouse adult heart

Expression of the mouse alpha-cardiac actin gene in skeletal and cardiac muscle is regulated by enhancers lying 5' to the proximal promoter. Here we report the characterization of a cardiac-specific enhancer located within -2.354/-1.36 kbp of the gene, which is active in cardiocytes but not in C2 skeletal muscle cells. In vivo it directs reporter gene expression to the adult heart, where the proximal promoter alone is inactive. An 85-bp region within the enhancer is highly conserved between human and mouse and contains a central AT-rich site, which is essential for enhancer activity. This site binds myocyte enhancer factor (MEF)2 factors, principally MEF2D and MEF2A in cardiocyte nuclear extracts. These results are discussed in the context of MEF2 activity and of the regulation of the alpha-cardiac actin locus.     

Integration of embryonic and fetal skeletal myogenic programs at the myosin light chain 1f/3f locus

The genetic control of skeletal muscle differentiation at the onset of myogenesis in the embryo is relatively well understood compared to the formation of muscle during the fetal period giving rise to the bulk of skeletal muscle fibers at birth. The Mlc1f/3f (Myl1) locus encodes two alkali myosin light chains, Mlc1f and Mlc3f, from two promoters that are differentially regulated during development. The Mlc1f promoter is active in embryonic, fetal and adult fast skeletal muscle whereas the Mlc3f promoter is upregulated during fetal development and remains on in adult fast skeletal muscle. Two enhancer elements have been identified at the mammalian Mlc1f/3f locus, a 3′ element active at all developmental stages and an intronic enhancer activated during fetal development. Here, using transgenesis, we demonstrate that these enhancers act combinatorially to confer the spatial, temporal and quantitative expression profile of the endogenous Mlc3f promoter. Using double reporter transgenes we demonstrate that each enhancer can activate both Mlc1f and Mlc3f promoters in vivo, revealing enhancer sharing rather than exclusive enhancer-promoter interactions. Finally, we demonstrate that the fetal activated enhancer contains critical E-box myogenic regulatory factor binding sites and that enhancer activation is impaired in vivo in the absence of myogenin but not in the absence of innervation. Together our observations provide insights into the regulation of fetal myogenesis and the mechanisms by which temporally distinct genetic programs are integrated at a single locus.     

Molecular cloning,characterization and functional assessment of the myosin light polypeptide chain 2 (mylz2) promoter of farmed carp,Labeo rohita

We cloned the 5′-flanking region (1.2 kb) of a muscle-specific gene, encoding myosin light chain 2 polypeptide (mylz2) of a farmed carp, Labeo rohita (rohu). Sequence analysis using TRANSFAC-database search identified the consensus cis acting regulatory elements of TATA-box and E (CANNTG)-box, including the monocyte enhancer factor 2 motif, implying that it is likely to be a functional promoter. The proximal promoter (~620 bp) was highly homologous with that of Danio rerio (zebrafish) as compared to Channa striatus (snakehead murrel) counterparts and showed less identity with Sparus auratus (gilthead sea bream), Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) and Rattus norvegicus (Norway rat). Direct muscular (skeletal) injection of the construct containing the mylz2 promoter (0.6 kb) fused to a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene showed efficient expression in L. rohita, validating its functional activity. Further, the functional activity was confirmed by the observation that this promoter drove GFP expression in the skeletal muscle of transgenic rohu. The promoter may have potential applications for value-addition in ornamental fishes and studying gene regulatory functions.     

肌肉增强子因子2对猪肌肉生长抑制素启动子活性的调节

肌肉生长抑制素(Myostatin,Mstn)是转化生长因子-β超家族的成员,在哺乳动物的骨骼肌生长和分化过程中起负调控作用,其转录调控受到多个基因的影响,其中肌肉增强子因子2(MEF2)是重要的调控因子之一。因此,对猪Mstn启动子上MEF2位点及其作用方式的探讨具有重要意义。首先,通过PCR方法扩增了猪Mstn基因上游1 969 kb的启动子序列,利用生物信息学方法分析该序列包含3个MEF2的结合位点;其次,采用逐步删除的方法获得5个长度不等的启动子,用荧光素酶报告系统评估了它们在小鼠成肌细胞C2C12中的活性。其次,转入含有MEF2结合位点的启动子片段和MEF2C表达载体,可以显著增强启动子活性2～6倍,高表达另一亚型MEF2A则启动子活性没有明显改变。最后,转入MEF2C表达载体,用实时定量PCR和Western blotting方法检测Mstn的转录和蛋白水平的变化,结果发现mRNA升高了2～4倍;在肌管细胞中,蛋白翻译水平也有显著升高。这些结果显示,MEF2C可以通过激活Mstn参与猪肌肉生长和发育阶段的调节。研究为Mstn基因的转录调控提供了有效的作用靶点和效应分子,为进一步探讨Mstn的功能调控提供了一种新的思路。