title: Variations in the relative mRNA levels of actins and myosin heavy chains do not produce corresponding differences in their proteins in the adult human heart.
abstract: This paper examines the quantitative relationship between the expression of myosin heavy chain (MHC) and actin at both the levels of their mRNAs and their proteins. Explanted human left ventricle tissues were obtained from non-diseased (ND) individuals and from dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients with terminally failing hearts who underwent heart transplantation. We found: (1) there are substantial differences in the stoichiometry of sarcomeric MHC and actin transcripts in hearts of DCM patients as well as in ND individuals; (2) there are substantial differences between levels of total sarcomeric actin transcripts from different individual patients; (3) by and large variations in transcript levels between samples from the same heart are much less than between samples from different hearts; and (4) the ratio of MHC to sarcomeric actin proteins expressed by different ND and DCM hearts remains essentially constant. We conclude that the human ventricle can accommodate a substantial imbalance between sarcomeric MHC and actin mRNA levels while maintaining a constant ratio of their corresponding proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Coumans
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yeoh
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Seeto
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keogh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gunning
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hardeman
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: dos Remedios
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D000328:Adult; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D046508:Culture Techniques; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000737:chemistry*; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D012518:Sarcomeres / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains