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Evolutionary aspects of a new MyoD gene in amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri) and its promoter specificity in skeletal and cardiac muscles

  • Section Cellular and Molecular Biology
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Abstract

Vertebrate MyoD family of transcription factors contains four members including MyoD, Myf5, Myogenin and MRF4. These myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs) play key roles in regulating skeletal muscle development and growth. Evolutionary analysis suggests that the four vertebrate MRF genes were derived by gene duplications from a single ancestral gene during chordate evolution. Better understanding of the structure and regulation of MyoD expression in amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri may provide insight into the evolutionary history of myogenic gene duplications because of the unique position of amphioxus in evolution. We report here that isolation and characterization of a new MyoD gene, AmphiMyoD, in B. belcheri. Sequence analysis revealed that the AmphiMyoD is more closely related to myogenic transcription factors in invertebrates and vertebrates compared with the previously identified three MyoD like genes in amphioxus, suggesting that the AmphiMyoD might be the closest relative of the ancestral myogenic gene. To determine if the AmphiMyoD gene promoter controls muscle-specific expression, the AmphiMyoD promoter was linked with the green fluorescence protein (GFP) reporter and the construct was microinjected into zebrafish embryos for transient expression assay. AmphiMyoD promoter directed skeletal muscle-specific GFP expression in zebrafish embryos. In addition, it also drove GFP expression in cardiac muscles of the injected embryos, but not in other non-muscle tissues. These data demonstrated that the AmphiMyoD promoter contained regulatory elements for skeletal and cardiac muscle-specific expression. Moreover, the regulatory element(s) could function across species.

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Abbreviations

bHLH:

basic helix-loop-helix domain

GFP:

green fluorescent protein

hpf:

hours post fertilization

MRF:

myogenic regulatory factor

PBS:

phosphate buffered saline

PBST:

0.1% Tween-20 in 1×PBS

RACE:

rapid amplification of cDNA ends

UTR:

untranslated region

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Xungang Tan & Pei Jun Zhang

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, 701 E. Pratt St., Baltimore, MD, 21202, USA

    Shao Jun Du

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  1. Xungang Tan
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  2. Pei Jun Zhang
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Correspondence to Xungang Tan or Shao Jun Du.

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Tan, X., Zhang, P.J. & Du, S.J. Evolutionary aspects of a new MyoD gene in amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri) and its promoter specificity in skeletal and cardiac muscles. Biologia 69, 1210–1221 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-014-0427-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-014-0427-z

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