Regulation of skeletal muscle development and organization is a complex process that is not fully understood. Here, we focused on amphiphysin 2 (BIN1, also known as bridging integrator-1) and dynamin 2 (DNM2), two ubiquitous proteins implicated in membrane remodeling and mutated in centronuclear myopathies (CNMs). We generated Bin1–/– Dnm2+/– mice to decipher the physiological interplay between BIN1 and DNM2. While Bin1–/– mice die perinatally from a skeletal muscle defect, Bin1–/– Dnm2+/– mice survived at least 18 months, and had normal muscle force and intracellular organization of muscle fibers, supporting BIN1 as a negative regulator of DNM2. We next characterized muscle-specific isoforms of BIN1 and DNM2. While BIN1 colocalized with and partially inhibited DNM2 activity during muscle maturation, BIN1 had no effect on the isoform of DNM2 found in adult muscle. Together, these results indicate that BIN1 and DNM2 regulate muscle development and organization, function through a common pathway, and define BIN1 as a negative regulator of DNM2 in vitro and in vivo during muscle maturation. Our data suggest that DNM2 modulation has potential as a therapeutic approach for patients with CNM and BIN1 defects. As BIN1 is implicated in cancers, arrhythmia, and late-onset Alzheimer disease, these findings may trigger research directions and therapeutic development for these common diseases.
Belinda S. Cowling, Ivana Prokic, Hichem Tasfaout, Aymen Rabai, Frédéric Humbert, Bruno Rinaldi, Anne-Sophie Nicot, Christine Kretz, Sylvie Friant, Aurélien Roux, Jocelyn Laporte
Skeletal muscle is a key organ in energy homeostasis owing to its high requirement for nutrients. Heterotrimeric G proteins converge signals from cell-surface receptors to potentiate or blunt responses against environmental changes. Here, we show that muscle-specific ablation of Gα13 in mice promotes reprogramming of myofibers to the oxidative type, with resultant increases in mitochondrial biogenesis and cellular respiration. Mechanistically, Gα13 and its downstream effector RhoA suppressed nuclear factor of activated T cells 1 (NFATc1), a chief regulator of myofiber conversion, by increasing Rho-associated kinase 2–mediated (Rock2-mediated) phosphorylation at Ser243. Ser243 phosphorylation of NFATc1 was reduced after exercise, but was higher in obese animals. Consequently, Gα13 ablation in muscles enhanced whole-body energy metabolism and increased insulin sensitivity, thus affording protection from diet-induced obesity and hepatic steatosis. Our results define Gα13 as a switch regulator of myofiber reprogramming, implying that modulations of Gα13 and its downstream effectors in skeletal muscle are a potential therapeutic approach to treating metabolic diseases.
Ja Hyun Koo, Tae Hyun Kim, Shi-Young Park, Min Sung Joo, Chang Yeob Han, Cheol Soo Choi, Sang Geon Kim
Maintenance of muscle structure and function depends on the precise organization of contractile proteins into sarcomeres and coupling of the contractile apparatus to the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), which serves as the reservoir for calcium required for contraction. Several members of the Kelch superfamily of proteins, which modulate protein stability as substrate-specific adaptors for ubiquitination, have been implicated in sarcomere formation. The Kelch protein Klhl31 is expressed in a muscle-specific manner under control of the transcription factor MEF2. To explore its functions in vivo, we created a mouse model of Klhl31 loss of function using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Mice lacking Klhl31 exhibited stunted postnatal skeletal muscle growth, centronuclear myopathy, central cores, Z-disc streaming, and SR dilation. We used proteomics to identify several candidate Klhl31 substrates, including Filamin-C (FlnC). In the Klhl31-knockout mice, FlnC protein levels were highly upregulated with no change in transcription, and we further demonstrated that Klhl31 targets FlnC for ubiquitination and degradation. These findings highlight a role for Klhl31 in the maintenance of skeletal muscle structure and provide insight into the mechanisms underlying congenital myopathies.
James B. Papizan, Glynnis A. Garry, Svetlana Brezprozvannaya, John R. McAnally, Rhonda Bassel-Duby, Ning Liu, Eric N. Olson
Glucocorticoid steroids such as prednisone are prescribed for chronic muscle conditions
such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, where their use is associated with prolonged
ambulation. The positive effects of chronic steroid treatment in muscular dystrophy are
paradoxical because these steroids are also known to trigger muscle atrophy. Chronic
steroid use usually involves once-daily dosing, although weekly dosing in children has
been suggested for its reduced side effects on behavior. In this work, we tested steroid
dosing in mice and found that a single pulse of glucocorticoid steroids improved
sarcolemmal repair through increased expression of annexins A1 and A6, which mediate
myofiber repair. This increased expression was dependent on glucocorticoid response
elements upstream of annexins and was reinforced by the expression of forkhead box O1
(FOXO1). We compared weekly versus daily steroid treatment in mouse models of acute muscle
injury and in muscular dystrophy and determined that both regimens provided comparable
benefits in terms of annexin gene expression and muscle repair. However, daily dosing
activated atrophic pathways, including F-box protein 32 (
Mattia Quattrocelli, David Y. Barefield, James L. Warner, Andy H. Vo, Michele Hadhazy, Judy U. Earley, Alexis R. Demonbreun, Elizabeth M. McNally
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorder that is characterized by extreme variability in symptoms, with females being less severely affected than males and presenting a higher proportion of asymptomatic carriers. The sex-related factors involved in the disease are not known. Here, we have utilized myoblasts isolated from FSHD patients (FSHD myoblasts) to investigate the effect of estrogens on muscle properties. Our results demonstrated that estrogens counteract the differentiation impairment of FSHD myoblasts without affecting cell proliferation or survival. Estrogen effects are mediated by estrogen receptor β (ERβ), which reduces chromatin occupancy and transcriptional activity of double homeobox 4 (DUX4), a protein whose aberrant expression has been implicated in FSHD pathogenesis. During myoblast differentiation, we observed that the levels and activity of DUX4 increased progressively and were associated with its enhanced recruitment in the nucleus. ERβ interfered with this recruitment by relocalizing DUX4 in the cytoplasm. This work identifies estrogens as a potential disease modifier that underlie sex-related differences in FSHD by protecting against myoblast differentiation impairments in this disease.
Emanuela Teveroni, Marsha Pellegrino, Sabrina Sacconi, Patrizia Calandra, Isabella Cascino, Stefano Farioli-Vecchioli, Angela Puma, Matteo Garibaldi, Roberta Morosetti, Giorgio Tasca, Enzo Ricci, Carlo Pietro Trevisan, Giuliana Galluzzi, Alfredo Pontecorvi, Marco Crescenzi, Giancarlo Deidda, Fabiola Moretti
Mutations in laminin α2-subunit (Lmα2, encoded by
Karen K. McKee, Stephanie C. Crosson, Sarina Meinen, Judith R. Reinhard, Markus A. Rüegg, Peter D. Yurchenco
Myotonic dystrophy type I (DM1) is a disabling multisystemic disease that predominantly affects skeletal muscle. It is caused by expanded CTG repeats in the 3′-UTR of the dystrophia myotonica protein kinase (
Marielle Brockhoff, Nathalie Rion, Kathrin Chojnowska, Tatiana Wiktorowicz, Christopher Eickhorst, Beat Erne, Stephan Frank, Corrado Angelini, Denis Furling, Markus A. Rüegg, Michael Sinnreich, Perrine Castets
Treatment options are limited for severe asthma, and the need for additional therapies remains great. Previously, we demonstrated that integrin αvβ6-deficient mice are protected from airway hyperresponsiveness, due in part to increased expression of the murine ortholog of human chymase. Here, we determined that chymase protects against cytokine-enhanced bronchoconstriction by cleaving fibronectin to impair tension transmission in airway smooth muscle (ASM). Additionally, we identified a pathway that can be therapeutically targeted to mitigate the effects of airway hyperresponsiveness. Administration of chymase to human bronchial rings abrogated IL-13–enhanced contraction, and this effect was not due to alterations in calcium homeostasis or myosin light chain phosphorylation. Rather, chymase cleaved fibronectin, inhibited ASM adhesion, and attenuated focal adhesion phosphorylation. Disruption of integrin ligation with an RGD-containing peptide abrogated IL-13–enhanced contraction, with no further effect from chymase. We identified α5β1 as the primary fibronectin-binding integrin in ASM, and α5β1-specific blockade inhibited focal adhesion phosphorylation and IL-13–enhanced contraction, with no additional effect from chymase. Delivery of an α5β1 inhibitor into murine airways abrogated the exaggerated bronchoconstriction induced by allergen sensitization and challenge. Finally, α5β1 blockade enhanced the effect of the bronchodilator isoproterenol on airway relaxation. Our data identify the α5β1 integrin as a potential therapeutic target to mitigate the severity of airway contraction in asthma.
Aparna Sundaram, Chun Chen, Amin Khalifeh-Soltani, Amha Atakilit, Xin Ren, Wenli Qiu, Hyunil Jo, William DeGrado, Xiaozhu Huang, Dean Sheppard
Myotubular myopathy (MTM) is a devastating pediatric neuromuscular disorder of phosphoinositide (PIP) metabolism resulting from mutations of the PIP phosphatase
Nesrin Sabha, Jonathan R. Volpatti, Hernan Gonorazky, Aaron Reifler, Ann E. Davidson, Xingli Li, Nadine M. Eltayeb, Claudia Dall’Armi, Gilbert Di Paolo, Susan V. Brooks, Ana Buj-Bello, Eva L. Feldman, James J. Dowling
The X chromosome–encoded histone demethylase UTX (also known as KDM6A) mediates removal of repressive trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) to establish transcriptionally permissive chromatin. Loss of UTX in female mice is embryonic lethal. Unexpectedly, male UTX-null mice escape embryonic lethality due to expression of UTY, a paralog that lacks H3K27 demethylase activity, suggesting an enzyme-independent role for UTX in development and thereby challenging the need for active H3K27 demethylation in vivo. However, the requirement for active H3K27 demethylation in stem cell–mediated tissue regeneration remains untested. Here, we employed an inducible mouse KO that specifically ablates
Hervé Faralli, Chaochen Wang, Kiran Nakka, Aissa Benyoucef, Soji Sebastian, Lenan Zhuang, Alphonse Chu, Carmen G. Palii, Chengyu Liu, Brendan Camellato, Marjorie Brand, Kai Ge, F. Jeffrey Dilworth