Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition
Published on: August 27, 2013
Secretion and transcriptional regulation of transforming growth factor-beta 3 during myogenesis
R Lafyatis1, R Lechleider, A B Roberts
1Laboratory of Chemoprevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Abstract:
Transforming growth factor-beta 3 (TGF-beta 3) mRNA is differentially expressed in developing and mature mouse tissues, including high-level expression in developing and adult cardiac tissue. We show now that TGF-beta 3 mRNA is also expressed highly in skeletal muscle as well as in the mouse skeletal myoblast cell line C2C12. We also show that C2C12 cells secrete TGF-beta 3, and that this TGF-beta is able to inhibit C2C12 myoblast fusion after activation. In order to begin to understand how the TGF-beta 3 promoter is regulated in specific tissues during development, we therefore studied the regulation of TGF-beta 3 during myoblast fusion. After fusion of C2C12 cells into myotubes, TGF-beta 3 mRNA levels increased eightfold as a result of increased TGF-beta 3 transcription. TGF-beta 3 transcriptional regulation was studied in myoblasts and myotubes by transfection of chimeric TGF-beta 3/CAT promoter plasmids. Chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity was stimulated in myoblasts by several upstream regions between -301 and -47 of the TGF-beta 3 promoter and by the TGF-beta 3 5' untranslated region. CAT activity directed by the TGF-beta 3 promoter in myotubes was stimulated by a distinct upstream region located between -499 and -221. Therefore, the high level of TGF-beta 3 mRNA expression in muscle cells appears to be dependent on multiple regulatory events during different stages of myogenesis.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Transcription
Transcription is the process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA sequence by RNA polymerase. It is the first step in producing a protein from a gene sequence. Additionally, many other proteins and regulatory sequences are involved in the proper synthesis of messenger RNA (mRNA). Regulation of transcription is responsible for the differentiation of all the different types of cells and often for the proper cellular response to environmental signals.
Transcription Can Produce Different Kinds...
Transcription Factors
Master Transcription Regulators
Transcription
Transcription Can Produce Different Kinds of RNA Molecules
In eukaryotes,...
General Transcription Factors
TGF - β Signaling Pathway

