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Effect of siRNA targeted against MKK4 on myostatin-induced downregulation of differentiation marker gene expression

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Abstract

The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway was reported to be involved in myostatin signaling and MKK4 was suggested as the only upstream kinase for myostatin-induced JNK activation, implying that MKK4 is a suitable target of RNA interference (RNAi) for blocking myostatin activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeted against MKK4 on myostatin-induced downregulation of differentiation marker gene expression. Real-time quantitative PCR revealed that the level of MKK4 expression was efficiently reduced by MKK4-specific siRNA. Western blot assays showed that knockdown of MKK4 attenuated the myostatin-induced downregulation of MyoD and myogenin expression.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant No. 2004CB117506 and was conducted at University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. We thank Dr. David K.Y. Lei for help in Western blot analysis, and Dr. Jie Zheng for help in cell culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan, Sichuan, 625014, P.R. China

    Zhiqing Huang, Keying Zhang, Xiaoling Chen & Daiwen Chen

  2. Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Jianghong Meng

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  1. Zhiqing Huang
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  2. Keying Zhang
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  3. Xiaoling Chen
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  4. Jianghong Meng
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  5. Daiwen Chen
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Correspondence to Daiwen Chen.

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Huang, Z., Zhang, K., Chen, X. et al. Effect of siRNA targeted against MKK4 on myostatin-induced downregulation of differentiation marker gene expression. Mol Cell Biochem 310, 241–244 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-007-9677-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-007-9677-1

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