Back to Search Start Over

Myocardin is a master regulator of smooth muscle gene expression

Authors :
Olson, E. N.
Pipes, G. C. T.
Wang, Z.
Wang, D.-Z.
Publication Year :
2003
Publisher :
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries, 2003.

Abstract

Virtually all smooth muscle genes analyzed to date contain two or more essential binding sites for serum response factor (SRF) in their control regions. Because SRF is expressed in a wide range of cell types, it alone cannot account for smooth muscle-specific gene expression. We show that myocardin, a cardiac muscle- and smooth muscle-specific transcriptional coactivator of SRF, can activate smooth muscle gene expression in a variety of nonmuscle cell types via its association with SRF. Homodimerization of myocardin is required for maximal transcriptional activity and provides a mechanism for cooperative activation of smooth muscle genes by SRF–myocardin complexes bound to different SRF binding sites. These findings identify myocardin as a master regulator of smooth muscle gene expression and explain how SRF conveys smooth muscle specificity to its target genes.

Details

Language :
English
Database :
OpenAIRE
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........0fc0e9bab909f64fa8b477e3a3e746b6
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.17615/c913-9m10