Activation of muscle-specific genes in pigment, nerve, fat, liver, and fibroblast cell lines by forced expression of MyoD.
MyoD is a master regulatory gene for myogenesis. Under the control of a retroviral long terminal repeat, MyoD was expressed in a variety of differentiated cell types by using either a DNA transfection vector or a retrovirus. Expression of muscle-specific proteins was observed in chicken, human, and rat primary fibroblasts and in differentiated melanoma, neuroblastoma, liver, and adipocyte lines. The ability of MyoD to activate muscle genes in a variety of differentiated cell lines suggests that no additional tissue-specific factors other than MyoD are needed to activate the downstream program for terminal muscle differentiation or that, if such factors exist, they are themselves activated by MyoD expression.
Weintraub
H
H
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98104.
Tapscott
S J
SJ
Davis
R L
RL
Thayer
M J
MJ
Adam
M A
MA
Lassar
A B
AB
Miller
A D
AD
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D005347:Fibroblasts; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver; D008545:Melanoma; D008980:Moloney murine sarcoma virus / Q000235:genetics; D009132:Muscles / Q000166:cytology*; D009447:Neuroblastoma; D014162:Transfection