Project description:We identify sestrins, a family of stress-inducible metabolic regulators, as protective factors against muscle wasting. Sestrin expression decreases during inactivity and its genetic deficiency exacerbates muscle wasting; conversely, sestrin overexpression suffices to prevent atrophy.
Project description:Skeletal muscle atrophy is a serious and highly prevalent condition that remains poorly understood at the molecular level. Previous work found that skeletal muscle atrophy involves an increase in skeletal muscle Gadd45a expression, which is necessary and sufficient for skeletal muscle fiber atrophy. However, the direct mechanism by which Gadd45a promotes skeletal muscle atrophy was unknown. To address this question, we biochemically isolated skeletal muscle fiber proteins that associate with Gadd45a as it induces skeletal muscle atrophy in living mice. We found that Gadd45a interacts with multiple proteins in skeletal muscle fibers, including, most prominently, the MAP kinase kinase kinase MEKK4. Furthermore, by forming a complex with MEKK4 in skeletal muscle fibers, Gadd45a increases MEKK4 protein kinase activity, which is sufficient to induce skeletal muscle fiber atrophy and required for Gadd45a-mediated skeletal muscle fiber atrophy. Together, these results identify a direct biochemical mechanism by which Gadd45a induces skeletal muscle atrophy and provide new insight into way that skeletal muscle atrophy occurs at the molecular level.
Project description:Skeletal muscle atrophy is a highly prevalent and debilitating condition that remains poorly understood at the molecular level. Previous work found that skeletal muscle atrophy involves activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), a protein in the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor family. However, the direct biochemical mechanism by which ATF4 promotes muscle atrophy was unknown. Because bZIP proteins such as ATF4 must dimerize to bind and activate genes, and because ATF4 is unable to form highly stable homodimers, we hypothesized that ATF4 may promote muscle atrophy by heterodimerizing with another bZIP family member. To test this hypothesis, we biochemically isolated skeletal muscle proteins that associate with the dimerization- and DNA-binding domain of ATF4 (the bZIP domain) in mouse skeletal muscle fibers in vivo. Interestingly, we found that ATF4 makes up one half of at least 5 distinct heterodimeric bZIP transcription factors in skeletal muscle fibers. This three-way interaction between ATF4, C/EBPbeta and the ATF4-C/EBP composite site activates the Gadd45a gene, which encodes a known mediator of muscle atrophy (Gadd45a). Together, these results identify a direct biochemical mechanism by which ATF4 induces skeletal muscle atrophy and provide new insight into the way that skeletal muscle atrophy occurs at the molecular level.
Project description:To investigate the possible changes of genes expression during muscle atrophy, we performed bulk RNA-seq of skeletal muscle from C57 BL/6 mice with or without denervation (2 weeks).
Project description:Belt electrode-skeletal muscle electrical stimulation (B-SES) involves the use of belt-shaped electrodes to simultaneously contract multiple muscle groups. Twitch contractions have been demonstrated to protect against denervation-induced muscle atrophy in rats, possibly via mitochondrial biosynthesis. In this study, we examined whether inducing tetanus contractions with B-SES suppresses muscle atrophy and identified the underlying molecular mechanisms. We evaluated the effects of acute (60 Hz, 5 min) and chronic (60 Hz, 5 min, every alternate day for 1 week) B-SES on the tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius (GAS) muscles in Sprague Dawley rats using belt electrodes attached to both ankle joints. In acute stimulation, a significant decrease in glycogen content in the left and right TA and GAS was observed, suggesting that B-SES causes simultaneous contractions in multiple muscle groups. B-SES also enhanced p70S6K phosphorylation, an indicator of the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 activity. During chronic stimulations, rats were divided into control (CONT), denervation-induced atrophy (DEN), and DEN+electrically stimulated with B-SES (DEN+ES) groups. After 7 days of treatment, muscle wet weight (n = 8-11 for each group) and muscle fiber cross-sectional area (CSA, n = 6 for each group) of the TA and GAS muscles were reduced in the DEN and DEN+ES groups compared to those in the CON group. The DEN+ES group showed significantly higher muscle weight and CSA than the DEN group. Although RNA-seq and pathway analysis suggested that mitochondrial and ribosome biogenesis are key events in this phenomenon, mitochondrial content showed no difference. In contrast, ribosomal RNA 28S and 45S (n = 6) levels in the DEN+ES group were higher than those in the DEN group. The mRNA levels of the muscle proteolytic molecules Atrogin-1 and MuRF1 were significantly higher in DEN than in CONT but were suppressed in DEN+ES. In conclusion, tetanic electrical stimulation of both ankles using belt electrodes was effective in preventing denervation-induced atrophy in multiple muscle groups. Unlike twitch contractions, ribosomal biosynthesis plays a key role in tetanic contractions to prevent muscle atrophy.
Project description:p53 regulates a distinct subset of skeletal muscle mRNAs during immobilization-induced skeletal muscle atrophy For additional details see Fox et al, p53 and ATF4 mediate distinct and additive pathways to skeletal muscle atrophy during limb immobilization. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Aug 1;307(3):E245-61.
Project description:Current atlas of regulatory sequences controlling skeletal muscle atrophy are still incomplete and lack cell type resolution. We applied single-cell chromatin accessibility assays (snATAC) to normal and denervated skeletal muscle from mice. We integrated these snATAC datasets with our single-nucleus RNA-sequence dataset to reveal the status of open chromatin. Using these datasets, we delineated chromatin accessibility maps in both normal and atrophic muscles and identified cis-regulatory elements (CREs) in all type of cell in skeletal muscle that may regulating muscle protein metabolism, energy metabolism and transcription activities, thus, provided a rich resource for understanding gene regulatory programs in skeletal muscle and related disorders.
Project description:Spinal motor atrophy mice (SMN delta 7 mice) and wild-type control hindlimb skeletal muscle tissue was used for transcriptome profiling by mRNA-seq.
Project description:p53 regulates a distinct subset of skeletal muscle mRNAs during immobilization-induced skeletal muscle atrophy For additional details see Fox et al, p53 and ATF4 mediate distinct and additive pathways to skeletal muscle atrophy during limb immobilization. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Aug 1;307(3):E245-61. Bilateral tibialis anterior muscles were harvested at three days for the following conditions: 1) hindlimb immobilization of C57BL/6 mice; 2) hindlimb immobilization of p53 mKO and littermate control mice; 3) transfection of wild type mice with p53 plasmid or control plasmid