PUBLICATION

Enhanced hyperplasia in muscles of transgenic zebrafish expressing Follistatin1

Authors
Li, X., Nie, F., Yin, Z., and He, J.
ID
ZDB-PUB-110221-9
Date
2011
Source
Science China. Life sciences   54(2): 159-165 (Journal)
Registered Authors
He, Jiangyan, Li, Xi, Yin, Zhan
Keywords
Follistatin1, myostatin, muscle growth, transgenic, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/anatomy & histology*
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/metabolism*
  • Cardiac Myosins/genetics
  • Cardiac Myosins/metabolism
  • Follistatin/genetics
  • Follistatin/metabolism*
  • Hyperplasia
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Mice
  • Muscle, Skeletal/cytology
  • Muscle, Skeletal/pathology*
  • Muscle, Skeletal/physiology*
  • Myosin Light Chains/genetics
  • Myosin Light Chains/metabolism
  • Zebrafish*/anatomy & histology
  • Zebrafish*/genetics
  • Zebrafish*/metabolism
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
PubMed
21318486 Full text @ Sci. China Ser. C-Life Sci.
Abstract
Myostatin is a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) super-family and functions as a negative regulator of muscle growth. Binding of the specific receptor, Activin receptor IIB (Act RIIB), with myostatin or other related TGF-β members, could be inhibited by the activin-binding protein follistatin (Fst) in mammals. Overexpressing Fst in mouse skeletal muscle leads to muscle hypertrophy and hyperplasia. To determine if Fst has similar roles in fish, we generated transgenic zebrafish expressing high levels of zebrafish Fst1 using the promoter of the zebrafish skeletal muscle-specific gene, myosin, light polypeptide 2, skeletal muscle (Mylz2). Independent transgenic zebrafish lines exhibited elevated expression levels of myogenic regulatory genes MyoD and Pax7 in muscle cells. Adult Fst1 overexpressing transgenic zebrafish exhibited a slight body weight increase. The high level of Fst1 expression dramatically increased myofiber numbers in skeletal muscle, without significantly changing the fiber size. Our findings suggest that Fst1 overexpression can promote zebrafish muscle growth by enhancing myofiber hyperplasia.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping