The formin FHOD1 in cardiomyocytes

Members of the formin family are known to be involved in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. We have recently identified a muscle specific splice variant of the formin FHOD3 and demonstrated its role in the maintenance of the contractile filaments of cardiomyocytes. Here, we characterize the expression and subcellular localization of FHOD3's closest relative, FHOD1, in the heart. Confocal microscopy shows that FHOD1 is mainly located at the intercalated disc, the special type of cell-cell contact between cardiomyocytes, but also partially associated with the myofibrils. Subcellular targeting of FHOD1 is probably mediated by its N-terminal domain, since expression constructs lacking this domain show aberrant localization in primary cultures of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Finally, we show that in contrast to FHOD3, FHOD1 shows increased expression levels in dilated cardiomyopathy, suggesting that the two formins play distinct roles and are differentially regulated in cardiomyocytes.