MiR-543 regulates myoblast proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 cells by targeting KLF6

MicroRNA-543 (miR-543) has been found to play a suppressive role in various human cancers in many studies, whereas the specific functions of miR-543 in muscle development remain poorly understood. Here, we found that the expression of miR-543 was high in skeletal muscle and increased during the differentiation of C2C12 cells. Overexpression of miR-543 repressed C2C12 cell proliferation and promoted differentiation, while knockdown of miR-543 expression produced the opposite results. During myogenesis, we predicted and verified that Krüppel-like factor 6 (KLF6), a suppressor of multiple tumor cells, was a target gene of miR-543. Then, miR-543 was found to specifically target KLF6 and repress its expression. Besides this, knockdown of KLF6 promoted the differentiation but inhibited the proliferation of C2C12 cells. Si-KLF6 can rescue the influence of miR-543 inhibitor on C2C12 cell differentiation. Our results indicate a new regulatory mechanism of miR-543 on KLF6 expression and suggest the possibility of using the miR-543/KLF6 pathway as a potential target for studying myogenesis.