Skeletal muscle specification and differentiation programs are regulated by the myogenic regulatory factors which include Myf5, MyoD, myogenin and Mrf4. Upstream of the MRFs, the transcription co-activators and other intracellular and extracellular signals play crucial roles in regulating skeletal myogenesis. Histone acetyltransferase activity of p300 is required for Myf5 and MyoD expression. Furthermore, the MyoD core enhancer region is indispensable for MyoD expression. However, the mechanism by which p300 activates MyoD gene expression is to be determined. The histone acetyltransferase activity of p300 can be inhibited by small molecule inhibitors such as curcumin. Thus, using the inhibitor approach on stem cells is useful to investigate the role of p300 in activating MyoD expression during myogenesis. We here show that curcumin was able to inhibit stem cell determination and differentiation into skeletal myocytes. We also show that p300 is present, and histone acetylation is high at the core enhancer region. Therefore, we provide evidence that p300 is directly involved in MyoD gene expression during skeletal myogenesis.

Skeletal muscle specification and differentiation programs are regulated by the myogenic regulatory factors which include Myf5, MyoD, myogenin and Mrf4. Upstream of the MRFs, the transcription co-activators and other intracellular and extracellular signals play crucial roles in regulating skeletal myogenesis. Histone acetyltransferase activity of p300 is required for Myf5 and MyoD expression. Furthermore, the MyoD core enhancer region is indispensable for MyoD expression. However, the mechanism by which p300 activates MyoD gene expression is to be determined. The histone acetyltransferase activity of p300 can be inhibited by small molecule inhibitors such as curcumin. Thus, using the inhibitor approach on stem cells is useful to investigate the role of p300 in activating MyoD expression during myogenesis. We here show that curcumin was able to inhibit stem cell determination and differentiation into skeletal myocytes. We also show that p300 is present, and histone acetylation is high at the core enhancer region. Therefore, we provide evidence that p300 is directly involved in MyoD gene expression during skeletal myogenesis.

Orientadores: Daniela Cristina Carvalho de Abreu, Alberto Cliquet Junior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T07:19:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Brunelli_RobertadeMatos_M.pdf: 1872583 bytes, checksum: 5ce843f202a01778398ee2807e19dd08 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar os efeitos da laserterapia de baixa potência no comprimento de onda ?=780nm entre diferentes períodos de tratamento 7, 14 e 21 dias e verificar a dose (10J/cm2 ou 50J/cm2) que promove melhor reparo muscular através das análises histopatológicas e imunohistoquímicas. Foram utilizados 54 ratos machos divididos em 3 grupos: GC: grupo controle (criolesão, sem tratamento); G10: criolesão do músculo tibial anterior (TA) e tratados com laser dose 10J/cm² e G50: criolesão do músculo TA e tratados com laser dose 50J/cm² que foram subdivididos em 3 subgrupos (n=6): 7, 14 e 21 dias de tratamento. Os achados histopatológicos revelaram maior organização das fibras musculares dos grupos tratados com laser 10J/cm² e 50J/cm² durante os períodos 7 e 14 dias em relação ao grupo controle; no período 21 dias os grupos apresentaram semelhanças na reparação tecidual. Em relação à área da lesão os grupos tratados com laser 10J/cm² e 50J/cm² durante 7 dias obtiveram diminuição significativa (p ? 0.05) da área da lesão em relação ao grupo controle, sendo que os grupos 14 e 21 dias não apresentaram diferenças significativas entre eles. Na contagem dos vasos o grupo tratado com laser 10J/cm² no 14° dia apresentou aumento dos vasos em relação ao grupo tratado com dose 50J/cm², mas não em relação ao grupo controle. Nos tempos de 7 e 21 dias os grupos não apresentaram diferença significativa entre si. Com relação às análises imunohistoquímicas da myoD no período de 7 dias os grupos tratados com laser 10J/cm² e 50J/cm² apresentaram maior imunomarcação comparada com o grupo controle, no período 14 e 21 dias a imunomarcação estava ausente. A imunomarcação da miogenina estava presente de forma semelhante nos períodos 7 e 14 dias para os três grupos analisados e no período 21 dias a imunomarcação da miogenina estava ausente em todos os grupos experimentais. Os resultados mostraram que o laser possui efeitos positivos no reparo muscular / Abstract: The objective of this study was to assess the effects of 780nm low-level laser therapy at different periods of 7, 14 and 21 days after cryolesion, including the dose (10 or 50J/cm2) to promote a better muscle repair evidenced by histopathological and immumohistochemical analyses. Fifty-four male rats were divided into three groups: injured control group (CG) - injured animals without any treatment; injured 780nm laser treated group, at 10 J/cm² (G10) and injured 780nm laser treated group, at 50 J/cm² (G50). Each group was divided into 3 subgroups (n=6): 7, 14 and 21 days post-injury. Histopathological findings revealed better-organized muscle fibers in the G10 and G50 during the periods of 7 and 14 days compared to CG. The G10 and G50 during 7 days showed a significant reduction (p? 0.05) of lesion area compared to CG, without differences between groups treated for 14 and 21 days. The G10 showed an increase of the amount of vessels after 14 days compared to the G50, but not in relation to controls. With regard to the immumohistochemical analyses of the MyoD factor, The G10 and G50 during 7 days showed higher concentrations of immunomarkers than controls. Myogenin immunomarkers were similarly observed at days 7 and 14 in all three groups analyzed, whereas immunomarkers were found in none of the groups after 21 days of laser therapy. The results showed that laser has positive effects on muscle repair / Mestrado / Fisiopatologia Cirúrgica / Mestra em Ciências

Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) are the most common soft tissue cancer among children and are characterized by their expression of the myogenic regulatory factors MyoD and myogenin. Yet RMS cells cannot undergo normal myogenesis and are caught between the proliferation program and the terminal differentiation program. Many questions still remain about the defects present in rhabdomyosarcoma cells. In this work, we set out to understand the role of myogenin in these cells. To begin, we found that myogenin and its co-factors were present in rhabdomyosarcoma cells at levels that should support terminal differentiation. We examined the expression profile of several myogenin target genes in rhabdomyosarcoma cells and then assayed for myogenin activity using luciferase reporter constructs that contain myogenin dependent promoters to test for myogenin function. Many myogenin target genes were down regulated in RMS cells but that the target promoters on the luciferase constructs were activated. Terminal differentiation is a complicated process that involves many proteins. In cancer cells, it is important to compare the levels proteins with known functions to those levels in wild-type cells at the protein and RNA levels. Establishing the defect of rhabdomyosarcoma cells can lead to further insights into normal myogenesis, and may also lead to new therapeutic approaches in the treatment of this childhood cancer.

<p>Technologies for engineering new functions into proteins are advancing biological research, biotechnology, and medicine at an astounding rate. Building on fundamental research of natural protein structure and function, scientists are identifying new protein domains with previously undescribed properties and engineering new proteins with expanded functionalities. Such tools are enabling the precise study of fundamental aspects of cellular behavior and the development of a new class of gene therapies that manipulate the expression of endogenous genes. The applications of these gene regulation technologies include but are not limited to controlling cell fate decisions, reprogramming cell lineage commitment, monitoring cellular states, and stimulating expression of therapeutic factors. </p><p>While the field has come a long way in the past 20 years, there are still many limitations. Historically, gene therapy and gene replacement therapies have relied on over-expression of natural transcription factors that activate specific endogenous gene networks. However, natural transcription factors are often inadequate for generating efficient, fast, and homogenous cellular responses. Furthermore, most natural transcription factors have complex structures and functions that are difficult to improve or alter by rational design. This thesis presents three novel and widely applicable methods for engineering transcription factors for programming cell fate decisions in primary human cells. MyoD is the master transcription factor defining the myogenic lineage. Expression of MyoD in certain non-myogenic lineages induces a coordinated change in differentiation state. We use MyoD as a model for developing our protein engineering techniques because myogenesis is a well-studied pathway that is characterized by an easily detected change in phenotype from mono-nucleated to multinucleated cells. Furthermore, efficient generation of myocytes in vitro presents an attractive patient-specific method by which to treat muscle-wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy.</p><p>We first demonstrate that we can improve the ability of MyoD to convert human dermal fibroblasts and human adipose-derived stem cells into myocyte-like cells. By fusing potent modular activation domains to the MyoD protein, we increased myogenic gene expression, myofiber formation, cell fusion, and global reprogramming of the myogenic gene network. The engineered MyoD transcription factor induced myogenisis in a little as ten days, a process that takes three or more weeks with the natural MyoD protein. </p><p>While increasing the potency of transcriptional activation is one mechanism by which to improve transcription factor function, there are many other possible routes such as increasing DNA-binding affinity, increasing protein stability, altering interactions with co-factors, or inducing post-translational modifications. Endogenous regulatory pathways are complex, and it is difficult to predict specific amino acid changes that will produce the desired outcome. Therefore, we designed and implemented a high-throughput directed evolution system in mammalian cells that allowed us to enrich for MyoD variants that are successful at inducing expression of the myogenic gene network. Directed evolution presents a well-established and currently unexplored approach for uncovering amino acid substitutions that improve the intrinsic properties of transcription factors themselves without any prior knowledge. After ten rounds of selection, we identified amino acid substitutions in MyoD that increase expression of a subset of myogenic gene markers in primary human cells.</p><p>Rather than guide cell fate decisions by expressing an exogenous factor, it may be beneficial to activate expression of the endogenous gene locus. In comparison to delivering the transcription factor cDNA, expression from the endogenous locus may induce chromatin remodeling and activation of positive feedback loops to stimulate autologous expression more quickly. Recent discoveries of the principles of protein-DNA interactions in various species and systems has guided the development of methods for engineering designer enzymes that can be targeted to any DNA target site. We make use of the RNA-guided Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system to induce expression of the endogenous MyoD gene in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Through complementary base pairing, chimeric guide RNAs (gRNAs) direct a Cas9 transcriptional activator to a target DNA sequence, leading to endogenous gene expression. A current limitation of CRISPR/Cas9-based gene regulation is the potency of transcriptional activation and delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 components. To address these limitations, we first developed a platform to express Cas9 and up to four gRNAs from a single lentiviral vector. We then optimized the gRNAs and Cas9 transcriptional activator to induce endogenous MyoD expression and differentiate iPSCs into myocyte-like cells. </p><p>In summary, the objective of this work is to develop protein engineering techniques to improve both natural and synthetic transcription factor function for programming cell fate decisions in primary human cells. While we focus on myogenesis, each method can be easily adapted to other transcription factors and gene networks. Engineered transcription factors that induce fast and efficient remodeling of gene networks have widespread applications in the fields of biotechnology and regenerative medicine. Continuing to develop these tools for modulating gene expression will lead to an expanded number of disease models and eventually the efficient generation of patient-specific cellular therapies.</p> / Dissertation

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a highly malignant pediatric cancer that is the most common form of soft tissue tumors in children. RMS cells have many features of skeletal muscle cells, yet do not differentiate. Thus, our studies have focused on the molecular defects present in these cells that block myogenesis. We have found MEF2D is absent in RMS cell lines representing both major subtypes of RMS and primary cells derived from an embryonal RMS mice model. We have shown that the down regulation of MEF2D is a major cause for the failure of RMS cells to differentiate. We find MEF2D cannot bind to muscle specific gene promoters. Exogenous expression of MEF2D activates muscle specific luciferase constructs, upregulates p21 expression and increases muscle specific gene expression including the expression of myosin heavy chain, a marker for skeletal muscle differentiation. Restoring expression of MEF2D also inhibits proliferation, cell motility, anchorage independent growth in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo by xenograft assay. We also have found MEF2C is deregulated in rhabdomyosarcoma with the aberrant alternative splicing. We have shown that exon α in MEF2C is aberrantly alternatively spliced in RMS cells, with the ratio of α2/α1 being highly downregulated in RMS cells compared with normal myoblasts. We find that MEF2Cα1 is the ubiquitously expressed isoform which exhibits no myogenic activity and that MEF2Cα2, the muscle specific MEF2C isoform, is required for efficient differentiation. Compared with MEF2Cα2, MEF2Cα1 more strongly interacts with and recruits HDAC5 to myogenic gene promoters to repress muscle specific genes. Overexpression of the MEF2Cα2 isoform in RMS cells increases myogenic activity and promotes differentiation in RMS cells. We have also identified a serine protein kinase, SRPK3, which is downregulated in RMS cells and found that expression of SRPK3 promoted the splicing of the MEF2Cα2 isoform and induced differentiation. Restoration of either MEF2Cα2 or SPRK3 inhibited both proliferation and anchorage independent growth of RMS cells. The NAC complex performs many diverse biological functions, and the deregulation of its subunits has been correlated with many cancers. We sought to understand the function of the NAC complex in normal myogenesis and tumor progression in rhabdomyosarcoma cells. We found that the muscle specific subunit of the NAC complex, skNAC, which is the alternatively spliced isoform of NACα, was induced in normal cells and downregulated in RMS cells, while BTF3, also known as NACβ, was induced in normal cells and severely downregulated in RMS cells. We also showed that skNAC associated with muscle specific promoters together with BTF3 in differentiated normal cells, and this association was dependent on the expression of BTF3. We further investigated the involvement of skNAC in RMS progression. We found that the muscle specific expressed methyltransferase Smyd1 was nuclear localized in RMS cells and its interaction partner skNAC was switched with corepressors (HDAC1 and TBX2). We also confirmed the expression of skNAC was regulated by the splicing factor kinase SRPK3 and overexpression of SPRK3 induced skNAC expression and muscle differentiation in RMS cells. We also confirmed the overexpression of BTF3 in patient RMS tumors and depletion of BTF3 induced apoptosis in RMS cells and decrease RMS cell survival. BTF3 depletion also sensitized TRAIL induced cell apoptosis in RMS cells. However, BTF3 played a different role in normal cells. Deletion of BTF3 in C2C12 cells does not induce cell apoptosis, which suggests BTF3 functions as an anti-apoptosis factor in RMS cells and could be used as a cancer specific therapeutic target in RMS cells.

No description available.

Calpaïne 3 est une cystéine protéase retrouvée principalement au niveau du tissu musculaire. Cette enzyme joue un rôle clef dans le maintient de l’intégrité des fibres musculaires. En effet, des mutations au niveau du gène de calpaïne 3 ont été identifiées comme étant responsables d’une dystrophie musculaire autosomale récessive, la LGMD2A (Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A), caractérisée par une atrophie progressive des muscles des ceintures scapulaires et pelviennes. Nos travaux montrent que calpaïne 3 inhibe l’activité transcriptionnelle de MyoD. Ce facteur de transcription myogénique (MRF) joue un rôle central dans le contrôle de la myogenèse aussi bien au cours du développement embryonnaire que chez un individu adulte au cours du processus de régénération musculaire. Cette diminution d’activité transcriptionnelle a lieu aussi bien dans des cellules myoblastiques (C2C12) que fibroblastiques (C3H10T1/2). Par contre calpaïne 3 ne modifie pas l’activité transcriptionnelle des autres MRFs (Myf5, myogénine ou MRF4). Nous avons pu montrer que calpaïne 3 affecte spécifiquement l’activité transcriptionnelle de MyoD en entraînant une diminution de son niveau protéique (Western-blot, microscopie confocale), sans affecter son niveau d’ARNm (RT-QPCR). De plus, des expériences de détermination de la demi-vie protéique ont pu montrer que calpaïne 3 intervenait sur la dégradation protéique de MyoD. Des expériences sont en cours afin de déterminer si calpaïne 3 hydrolyse directement ou non le facteur MyoD. Nos travaux montrent que l’hydrolyse de MyoD induite par calpaïne 3 représente une voie parallèle à celle du système protéolytique protéasome ubiquitine-dépendant connu pour être impliqué dans sa dégradation. Nous avons également montré qu’une modification de l’expression de calpaïne 3, soit par surexpression soit par inhibition avec des siRNA spécifiques, entraîne une perturbation du processus de différenciation myogénique. Cet effet a été plus particulièrement étudié au sein d’une sous-population de cellules qui reste indifférenciée dans les cellules C2C12 induites en différenciation. Ces cellules, appelées cellules de réserve, s’apparentent aux cellules satellites intervenant dans la régénération musculaire. Nous avons montré que calpaïne 3 participe à la régulation du nombre des cellules de réserve au cours de la différenciation des cellules C2C12. Ce rôle de calpaïne 3 pourrait être lié à son intervention dans la dégradation du facteur MyoD. L’ensemble de ces résultats suggère ainsi que calpaïne 3 pourrait jouer un rôle in vivo dans le maintien d’un stock de cellules satellites au cours de la régénération musculaire. / Calpain 3 (CAPN3) is a calcium-dependent cysteine protease mainly expressed in skeletal muscle. This protease plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of muscular fibers. Indeed, mutations in CAPN3 encoding gene cause limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A, an autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy characterized by progressive atrophy and weakness of the proximal limb muscles. Our work reveals an inhibitory effect of CAPN3 directed against the myogenic regulatory factor (MRF), MyoD. We have shown that CAPN3 inhibits the transcriptional activity of MyoD either in myoblastic cells (C2C12 cells) or in fibroblastic ones (C3H10T1/2 cells). On the contrary, no variation in the transcriptional activity of the other members of the MRFs family (Myf5, myogenin, or MRF4) was observed. CAPN3 affects the transcriptional activity of MyoD by decreasing the quantity of the endogenous protein MyoD (Western-blots, confocal microscopy experiments), without affecting its mRNA level (RT-QPCR). Moreover, half-life determination experiments showed that CAPN3 induce MyoD degradation acts on MyoD by a proteic degradation. Experiments are in progress to determine whether CAPN3 acts directly or not on MyoD. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of CAPN3 on MyoD is independent of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway that is known to play a role during MyoD degradation. Indeed, MyoD mutants resistant to proteolytic degradation by the proteasome are sensitive to CAPN3 action. Interestingly, we have shown that modifications in CAPN3 expression, induced by overexpression or downregulation (siRNA), cause perturbations in myogenic differentiation. CAPN3 appears as a regulator of myogenic differentiation by modulating the quantity of MyoD available for progressing in differentiation. In addition, we have highlighted a potential role of CAPN3 in maintaining a pool of reserve cells along C2C12 cells differentiation. These cells share numbers of similarities with satellite cells present in the adult muscles. In conclusion, we have shown that CAPN3 acts as a regulatory molecule on myogenic differentiation, and probably have implications in the area of regeneration.

Submitted by Angela Maria de Oliveira (amolivei@uepg.br) on 2018-11-20T17:29:47Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Amanda de Paula Lima.pdf: 1103885 bytes, checksum: c825dfd59f4730fd1cd0b63b5796cb44 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-20T17:29:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Amanda de Paula Lima.pdf: 1103885 bytes, checksum: c825dfd59f4730fd1cd0b63b5796cb44 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-10 / Fundação Araucária de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Paraná / A presente pesquisa foi realizada com o objetivo avaliar os efeitos da suplementação combinada de lisina e metionina sobre o desempenho produtivo e expressão de genes relacionados com o crescimento muscular em alevinos de tilápia do Nilo revertidos sexualmente. Trezentos e trinta e seis alevinos de tilápia do Nilo (peso inicial 0,90 ± 0,01 g) foram distribuídos em 24 aquários de 70L com sistema contínuo de fluxo de água (2,0 L/min), em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado com quatro tratamentos e seis repetições. Foram elaboradas quatro dietas isoproteicas (~330,50 g/kg de proteína bruta) e isocalóricas (~18,59 MJ/kg) sem suplementação de lisina e metionina (Controle), suplementada com lisina (Lys), suplementada com metionina (Met) e suplementada com lisina e metionina (Lys+Met) durante oito semanas. Os peixes foram alimentados manualmente, quatro vezes por dia até saciedade aparente. Peixes tratados com as dietas Lys e Met apresentaram maior peso corporal e taxa de crescimento específico em relação aos peixes mantidos com as demais dietas. Peixes tratados com dieta Lys apresentaram maior taxa de eficiência proteica em comparação aos peixes mantidos com as outras dietas. O índice hepatostomático e a gordura corporal foram menores nos peixes alimentados com as dietas Met e Lys+Met em comparação aos peixes tratados com a dieta controle. O consumo, sobrevivência, umidade, proteína bruta, cinzas corporais e a expressão do mRNA da miostatina não foram influenciados pelas dietas. Peixes que receberam dieta Lys+Met apresentaram maior nível de expressão de mRNA da MyoD em comparação aos peixes que receberam a dieta controle, mas nenhum efeito da suplementação isolada de lisina e metionina foi observada. Em conclusão, a suplementação combinada de lisina e metionina melhora o desempenho produtivo e aumenta a expressão de mRNA de MyoD e miogenina e reduz conteúdo de gordura corporal de alevinos de tilápias do Nilo. / This work was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effects of the combination of lysine and methionine on the performance of growth and expression of genes related to muscle growth in sexually reversed Nile tilapia fingerlings. Fish (n = 336, initial weight 0.90 ± 0.01 g) were randomly distributed into 24 70 L aquaria with a continuous water flow system in an entirely randomized design with four treatments and six replicates. Four isoproteic (~330.50 g/kg crude protein) and isocaloric (~ 18.59 MJ / kg) diets without lysine or methionine supplementation (Control), or supplemented with lysine (Lys), methionine (Met) and lysine and methionine (Lys + Met) were elaborated. Fish were hand fed until apparent satiety. Fish fed diets Lys+Met and Met showed higher final body weight and specific growth ratio compared to fish fed other diets. The protein efficiency ratio was higher in fish diet Lys compared to fish fed other diets. Fish fed Met and Lys+Met diets showed lower hepatosomatic index and whole-body fat compared to fish fed the control diet. Feed intake, survival and whole-body moisture, crude protein, ash and mRNA expression of myostatin of fish were not affected by diets. Fish fed diet Lys+Met demonstrated higher mRNA expression level of MyoD compared to those fed the control diet. In conclusion, Nile tilapia fingerlings fed combined lysine and methionine demonstrates improved growth performance in line to higher mRNA expression of MyoD and myogenin, and also reduced body fat contents

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-79).