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Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay for Tissue-specific Genes using Early-stage Mouse Embryos
Published on: April 29, 2011
Hoxa-11 and Hoxa-13 are involved in repression of MyoD during limb muscle development
Masakazu Yamamoto1, Atsushi Kuroiwa
1Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602 Japan. masakazu.yamamoto@uconn.edu
Abstract:
Under the influence of the limb mesenchyme, Hoxa-11 is expressed in migrating and proliferating premyoblasts in the limb field and Hoxa-13 is induced in subdomains of congregated limb muscle masses. To evaluate the roles of Hoxa-11 and Hoxa-13 in myogenesis of the limb, we performed electroporation in ovo to force expression of these Hox genes in limb muscle precursors. In the presence of ectopic Hoxa-11, expression of MyoD was blocked transiently. In C2C12 myoblasts, transfection of Hoxa-11 also repressed the expression of endogenous MyoD. Forced expression of Hoxa-13 resulted in more pronounced repression of MyoD in both limb and C2C12 myoblasts. In contrast, targeted disruption of Hoxa-13 gave rise to enhanced expression of MyoD in the flexor carpi radialis muscle, a forearm muscle that normally expressed Hoxa-13. These results suggest that Hoxa-11 and Hoxa-13 are involved in the negative regulation of MyoD expression in limb muscle precursors.
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