Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:3.1.3.16 (calcineurin)
17,112 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Myoblast fusion is essential for the formation of skeletal muscle myofibres. Studies have shown that phosphatidylserine is necessary for myoblast fusion, but the underlying mechanism is not known. Here we show that the phosphatidylserine receptor stabilin-2 acts as a membrane protein for myoblast fusion during myogenic differentiation and muscle regeneration. Stabilin-2 expression is induced during myogenic differentiation, and is regulated by calcineurin/NFAT signalling in myoblasts. Forced expression of stabilin-2 in myoblasts is associated with increased myotube formation, whereas deficiency of stabilin-2 results in the formation of small, thin myotubes. Stab2-deficient mice have myofibres with small cross-sectional area and few myonuclei and impaired muscle regeneration after injury. Importantly, myoblasts lacking stabilin-2 have reduced phosphatidylserine-dependent fusion. Collectively, our results show that stabilin-2 contributes to phosphatidylserine-dependent myoblast fusion and provide new insights into the molecular mechanism by which phosphatidylserine mediates myoblast fusion during muscle growth and regeneration.
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PMID:Stabilin-2 modulates the efficiency of myoblast fusion during myogenic differentiation and muscle regeneration. 2697 91

Myoblast fusion is important for skeletal muscle formation. Even though the knowledge of myoblast fusion mechanism has accumulated over the years, the initial signal of fusion is yet to be elucidated. Our study reveals the novel function of a phosphatidylserine (PS) receptor, stabilin-2 (Stab2), in the modulation of myoblast fusion, through the recognition of PS exposed on myoblasts. During differentiation of myoblasts, Stab2 expression is higher than other PS receptors and is controlled by calcineurin/NFAT signaling on myoblasts. The forced expression of Stab2 results in an increase in myoblast fusion; genetic ablation of Stab2 in mice causes a reduction in muscle size, as a result of impaired myoblast fusion. After muscle injury, muscle regeneration is impaired in Stab2- deficient mice, resulting in small myofibers with fewer nuclei, which is due to reduction of fusion rather than defection of myoblast differentiation. The fusion-promoting role of Stab2 is dependent on its PS-binding motif, and the blocking of PS-Stab2 binding impairs cell-cell fusion on myoblasts. Given our previous finding that Stab2 recognizes PS exposed on apoptotic cells for sensing as an "eat-me" signal, we propose that PS-Stab2 binding is required for sensing of a "fuse-me" signal as the initial signal of myoblast fusion. [BMB Reports 2016; 49(6): 303-304].
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PMID:Novel function of stabilin-2 in myoblast fusion: the recognition of extracellular phosphatidylserine as a "fuse-me" signal. 2717 1

Sarcolipin (SLN) and phospholamban (PLN) are two small proteins that regulate the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase pumps. In a recent study, we discovered that Pln overexpression (PlnOE) in slow-twitch type I skeletal muscle fibers drastically impaired SERCA function and caused a centronuclear myopathy-like phenotype, severe muscle atrophy and weakness, and an 8 to 9-fold upregulation of SLN protein in the soleus muscles. Here, we sought to determine the physiological role of SLN upregulation, and based on its role as a SERCA inhibitor, we hypothesized that it would represent a maladaptive response that contributes to the SERCA dysfunction and the overall myopathy observed in the PlnOE mice. To this end, we crossed Sln-null (SlnKO) mice with PlnOE mice to generate a PlnOE/SlnKO mouse colony and assessed SERCA function, CNM pathology, in vitro contractility, muscle mass, calcineurin signaling, daily activity and food intake, and proteolytic enzyme activity. Our results indicate that genetic deletion of Sln did not improve SERCA function nor rescue the CNM phenotype, but did result in exacerbated muscle atrophy and weakness, due to a failure to induce type II fiber compensatory hypertrophy and a reduction in total myofiber count. Mechanistically, our findings suggest that impaired calcineurin activation and resultant decreased expression of stabilin-2, and/or impaired autophagic signaling could be involved. Future studies should examine these possibilities. In conclusion, our study demonstrates the importance of SLN upregulation in combating muscle myopathy in the PlnOE mice, and since SLN is upregulated across several myopathies, our findings may reveal SLN as a novel and universal therapeutic target.
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PMID:Sarcolipin deletion exacerbates soleus muscle atrophy and weakness in phospholamban overexpressing mice. 2827 4

Overexpression of sarcolipin (SLN), a regulator of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca²⁺-ATPases (SERCAs), stimulates calcineurin signaling to enhance skeletal muscle oxidative capacity. Some studies have shown that calcineurin may also control skeletal muscle mass and remodeling in response to functional overload and unload stimuli by increasing myofiber size and the proportion of slow fibers. To examine whether SLN might mediate these adaptive responses, we performed soleus and gastrocnemius tenotomy in wild-type (WT) and Sln-null (Sln^-/-) mice and examined the overloaded plantaris and unloaded/tenotomized soleus muscles. In the WT overloaded plantaris, we observed ectopic expression of SLN, myofiber hypertrophy, increased fiber number, and a fast-to-slow fiber type shift, which were associated with increased calcineurin signaling (NFAT dephosphorylation and increased stabilin-2 protein content) and reduced SERCA activity. In the WT tenotomized soleus, we observed a 14-fold increase in SLN protein, myofiber atrophy, decreased fiber number, and a slow-to-fast fiber type shift, which were also associated with increased calcineurin signaling and reduced SERCA activity. Genetic deletion of Sln altered these physiological outcomes, with the overloaded plantaris myofibers failing to grow in size and number, and transition towards the slow fiber type, while the unloaded soleus muscles exhibited greater reductions in fiber size and number, and an accelerated slow-to-fast fiber type shift. In both the Sln^-/- overloaded and unloaded muscles, these findings were associated with elevated SERCA activity and blunted calcineurin signaling. Thus, SLN plays an important role in adaptive muscle remodeling potentially through calcineurin stimulation, which could have important implications for other muscle diseases and conditions.
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PMID:Effects of sarcolipin deletion on skeletal muscle adaptive responses to functional overload and unload. 2859 14

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most severe form of muscular dystrophy affecting 1 in 3500 live male births. Although there is no cure for DMD, therapeutic strategies aimed at enhancing calcineurin signalling and promoting the slow fibre phenotype have shown promise in mdx mice, which is the classical mouse model for DMD. Sarcolipin (SLN) is a small protein that regulates the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase pump and its expression is highly upregulated in dystrophic skeletal muscle. We have recently shown that SLN in skeletal muscle amplifies calcineurin signalling thereby increasing myofibre size and the slow fibre phenotype. Therefore, in the present study we sought to determine the physiological impact of genetic Sln deletion in mdx mice, particularly on calcineurin signalling, fibre-type distribution and size and dystrophic pathology. We generated an mdx/Sln-null (mdx/SlnKO) mouse colony and hypothesized that the soleus and diaphragm muscles from these mice would display blunted calcineurin signalling, smaller myofibre sizes, an increased proportion of fast fibres and worsened dystrophic pathology compared with mdx mice. Our results show that calcineurin signalling was impaired in mdx/SlnKO mice as indicated by reductions in utrophin, stabilin-2 and calcineurin expression. In addition, mdx/SlnKO muscles contained smaller myofibres, exhibited a slow-to-fast fibre-type switch that corresponded with reduced expression of mitochondrial proteins and displayed a worsened dystrophic pathology compared with mdx muscles. Altogether, our findings demonstrate a critical role for SLN upregulation in dystrophic muscles and suggest that SLN can be viewed as a potential therapeutic target.
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PMID:Sarcolipin deletion in mdx mice impairs calcineurin signalling and worsens dystrophic pathology. 3013 16

Calcineurin is a Ca²⁺/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent phosphatase that plays a critical role in promoting the slow fiber phenotype and myoblast fusion in skeletal muscle, thereby making calcineurin an attractive cellular target for enhancing fatigue resistance, muscle metabolism, and muscle repair. Neurogranin (Ng) is a CaM-binding protein thought to be expressed solely in brain and neurons, where it inhibits calcineurin signaling by sequestering CaM, thus lowering its cellular availability. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the expression of Ng protein and mRNA in mammalian skeletal muscle. Both protein and mRNA levels are greater in slow-oxidative compared with fast-glycolytic muscles. Coimmunoprecipitation of CaM with Ng in homogenates of C2C12 myotubes, mouse soleus, and human vastus lateralis suggests that these proteins physically interact. To determine whether Ng inhibits calcineurin signaling in muscle, we used Ng siRNA with C2C12 myotubes to reduce Ng protein levels by 60%. As a result of reduced Ng expression, C2C12 myotubes had enhanced CaM-calcineurin binding and calcineurin signaling as indicated by reduced phosphorylation of nuclear factor of activated T cells and increased utrophin mRNA. In addition, calcineurin signaling affects the expression of myogenin and stabilin-2, which are involved in myogenic differentiation and myoblast fusion, respectively. Here, we found that both myogenin and stabilin-2 were significantly elevated by Ng siRNA in C2C12 cells, concomitantly with an increased fusion index. Taken together, these results demonstrate the expression of Ng in mammalian skeletal muscle where it appears to be a novel regulator of calcineurin signaling.
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PMID:Neurogranin is expressed in mammalian skeletal muscle and inhibits calcineurin signaling and myoblast fusion. 3143 93

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