the homeobox transcription factor barx2 regulates plasticity of young primary myofibers同源框转录因子barx2调节年轻主要肌纤维可塑性.pdfVIP

The Homeobox Transcription Factor Barx2 Regulates Plasticity of Young Primary Myofibers 1,2 1 1 1 1 Robyn Meech , Mariana Gomez , Christopher Woolley , Marietta Barro , Julie-Ann Hulin , Elisabeth C. 3 3 1,3 Walcott , Jary Delgado , Helen P. Makarenkova * 1The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America, 2 The Flinders University of South Australia, Beford Park, South Australia, Australia, 3 The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, California, United States of America Abstract Background: Adult mammalian muscle retains incredible plasticity. Muscle growth and repair involves the activation of undifferentiated myogenic precursors called satellite cells. In some circumstances, it has been proposed that existing myofibers may also cleave and produce a pool of proliferative cells that can re-differentiate into new fibers. Such myofiber dedifferentiation has been observed in the salamander blastema where it may occur in parallel with satellite cell activation. Moreover, ectopic expression of the homeodomain transcription factor Msx1 in differentiated C2C12 myotubes has been shown to induce their dedifferentiation. While it remains unclear whether dedifferentiation and redifferentiaton occurs endogenously in mammalian muscle, there is considerable interest in induced dedifferentiation as a possible regenerative tool. Methodology/Principal Findings: We previously showed that the homeobox protein Barx2 promotes myoblast differentiation. Here we report that ectopic expression of Barx2 in young immature myotubes deri