Work

The serum response factor coactivator myocardin is required for vascular smooth muscle development

Year: 2003

Type: article

Abstract: Formation of the vascular system requires differentiation and patterning of endothelial and smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Although much attention has focused on development of the vascular endothelial network, the mechanisms that control vascular SMC development are largely unknown. Myocardin is a smooth and cardiac muscle-specific transcriptional coactivator of serum response factor, a ubiquitous transcription factor implicated in smooth muscle gene expression. When expressed ectopically in nonmuscle cells, myocardin can induce smooth muscle differentiation by its association with serum response factor. Here we report that mouse embryos homozygous for a myocardin loss-of-function mutation die by embryonic day 10.5 and show no evidence of vascular SMC differentiation. Myocardin is the only transcription factor known to be necessary and sufficient for vascular SMC differentiation.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1233635100

Authors: Shijie Li, Da-Zhi Wang, Zhigao Wang, James A. Richardson, Eric N. Olson

Institutions: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Institutes of Health