Jackson, H.E., Ono, Y., Wang, X. et al. (3 more authors) (2015) The role of Sox6 in zebrafish muscle fiber type specification. Skeletal Muscle, 5. 2. ISSN 2044-5040
Abstract
Background The transcription factor Sox6 has been implicated in regulating muscle fiber type-specific gene expression in mammals. In zebrafish, loss of function of the transcription factor Prdm1a results in a slow to fast-twitch fiber type transformation presaged by ectopic expression of sox6 in slow-twitch progenitors. Morpholino-mediated Sox6 knockdown can suppress this transformation but causes ectopic expression of only one of three slow-twitch specific genes assayed. Here, we use gain and loss of function analysis to analyse further the role of Sox6 in zebrafish muscle fiber type specification.
Methods The GAL4 binary misexpression system was used to express Sox6 ectopically in zebrafish embryos. Cis-regulatory elements were characterized using transgenic fish. Zinc finger nuclease mediated targeted mutagenesis was used to analyse the effects of loss of Sox6 function in embryonic, larval and adult zebrafish. Zebrafish transgenic for the GCaMP3 Calcium reporter were used to assay Ca2+ transients in wild-type and mutant muscle fibres.
Results Ectopic Sox6 expression is sufficient to downregulate slow-twitch specific gene expression in zebrafish embryos. Cis-regulatory elements upstream of the slow myosin heavy chain 1 (smyhc1) and slow troponin c (tnnc1b) genes contain putative Sox6 binding sites required for repression of the former but not the latter. Embryos homozygous for sox6 null alleles expressed tnnc1b throughout the fast-twitch muscle whereas other slow-specific muscle genes, including smyhc1, were expressed ectopically in only a subset of fast-twitch fibers. Ca2+ transients in sox6 mutant fast-twitch fibers were intermediate in their speed and amplitude between those of wild-type slow- and fast-twitch fibers. sox6 homozygotes survived to adulthood and exhibited continued misexpression of tnnc1b as well as smaller slow-twitch fibers. They also exhibited a striking curvature of the spine.
Conclusions The Sox6 transcription factor is a key regulator of fast-twitch muscle fiber differentiation in the zebrafish, a role similar to that ascribed to its murine ortholog.
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Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 Jackson et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
Keywords: | zebrafish; muscle; fiber type; Sox6; troponin; myosin; spinal curvature |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Biomedical Science (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 09 May 2016 10:55 |
Last Modified: | 09 May 2016 11:00 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13395-014-0026-2 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BioMed Central |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s13395-014-0026-2 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:99412 |
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