Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 10, 2026

Identification of MyoD Interactome Using Tandem Affinity Purification Coupled to Mass Spectrometry
Published on: May 17, 2016
MAFF is a transcription factor that regulates contraction-induced skeletal muscle transcription
Taku Fukushima1,2, Taiju Fujioka1, Satoru Masubuchi1
1Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Japan.
Abstract:
Skeletal muscle adapts to exercise through rapid transcriptional remodeling, but regulators that link contractile activity to these gene programs remain unclear. Here we show that MAFF, a small MAF transcription factor, is consistently induced by acute exercise in both human and mouse skeletal muscle, with induction restricted to muscles recruited by the exercise modality. In C2C12 cells, Maff was induced by in vitro electrical pulse stimulation model. Using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Maff knockout C2C12 cells, we found that loss of Maff reduced myogenic fusion with accumulation of unfused nuclei. RNA sequencing revealed broad reprogramming in Maff-deficient myotubes, including reduced expression of muscle structural and contractile genes and increased interferon/immune responses and extracellular matrix-related signatures. Moreover, Maff deficiency attenuated a subset of electrical pulse stimulation-responsive genes. Together, these data identify MAFF as a component of the transcriptional machinery supporting myogenic maturation and contraction-evoked gene regulation.
Related Concept Videos
Master Transcription Regulators
Muscle Contraction
Muscle Contraction
Smooth Muscle Contraction
The onset of contraction is triggered by an increase in calcium ions within the sarcoplasm, similar to the process in striated muscle. However, smooth muscles have a relatively smaller reservoir of the sarcoplasmic...
Actin and Myosin in Muscle Contraction
Formation of Muscle Fibers from Myoblasts
Muscle progenitor cells (MPCs) are formed from the myotomes. MPCs express genes that encode the transcription factors Pax3 and Pax7. Along with Pax 3/7, other transcription factors...

