The MADS domain containing transcription factor cMef2a is expressed in heart and skeletal muscle during embryonic chick development.
Muscle enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) proteins are important transcription factors for muscle-specific gene activation. Four family members are known in mammals, referred to as MEF2A, MEF2B, MEF2C, and MEF2D. Here we report the isolation and expression pattern of the chick Mef2a gene (cMef2a). cMef2a expression starts in precardiac mesoderm of HH stage 8 embryos. During further embryonic development expression continues in the heart tube and later in atrium and ventricle. A second cMef2a expression domain appears in somites of stage 13 embryos. Somitic cMef2a expression is limited to the myotome and is not found in newly formed somites until the muscle-specific transcription factors MyoD and myogenin are present. This suggests that activation of the cMef2a gene in skeletal muscle is dependent on these basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. cMef2a expression in heart and skeletal muscle continues into adulthood when it is also seen in intestinal mesenchyme and in brain.
Buchberger
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Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Technical University of Braunschweig, Spielmannstrasse 7, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany. A.Buchberger@tu-bs.de
Arnold
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HH
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002642:Chick Embryo; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D064326:MEF2 Transcription Factors; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018006:Myogenic Regulatory Factors; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D064326:MEF2 Transcription Factors; D018006:Myogenic Regulatory Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012313:RNA