title: Control of muscle formation by the fusogenic micropeptide myomixer.
abstract: Skeletal muscle formation occurs through fusion of myoblasts to form multinucleated myofibers. From a genome-wide clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) loss-of-function screen for genes required for myoblast fusion and myogenesis, we discovered an 84-amino acid muscle-specific peptide that we call Myomixer. Myomixer expression coincides with myoblast differentiation and is essential for fusion and skeletal muscle formation during embryogenesis. Myomixer localizes to the plasma membrane, where it promotes myoblast fusion and associates with Myomaker, a fusogenic membrane protein. Myomixer together with Myomaker can also induce fibroblast-fibroblast fusion and fibroblast-myoblast fusion. We conclude that the Myomixer-Myomaker pair controls the critical step in myofiber formation during muscle development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Pengpeng
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9871-6773
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramirez-Martinez
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2855-6540
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cannavino
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: McAnally
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: John M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2949-1638
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Efrain
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9358-1630
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Ortiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Rhonda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bassel-Duby
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA. eric.olson@utsouthwestern.edu.|Sen. Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Eric N
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1151-8262
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Olson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002459:Cell Fusion; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D064112:Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D024510:Muscle Development / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000254:growth & development*; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D010455:Peptides; C000591742:Mymk protein, mouse