scholarly journals A muscle-related contractile tissue specified by MRTF-activity in Porifera

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey John Colgren ◽  
Scott A. Nichols

Muscle-based movement is a hallmark of animal biology, but the evolutionary origins of myocytes - the cells that comprise muscle tissues - are unknown. Sponges (Porifera) provide an opportunity to reconstruct the earliest periods of myocyte evolution. Although sponges are believed to lack muscle, they are capable of coordinated whole-body contractions that purge debris from internal water canals. This behavior has been observed for decades, but their contractile tissues remain uncharacterized. It is an open question whether they share affinity to muscle or non-muscle contractile tissues in other animals. Here, we characterize the endothelial-like lining of water canals (the endopinacoderm) as a primary contractile tissue in the sponge Ephydatia muelleri. We find tissue-wide organization of contractile actin-bundles that contain striated-muscle myosin II and transgelin, and that contractions are regulated by the release of internal Ca2+ stores upstream of the myosin-light-chain-kinase (MLCK) pathway. Further, we show that the endopinacoderm is developmentally specified by myocardin-related transcription factor (MRTF) as part of an environmentally-inducible transcriptional complex that functions in muscle development, plasticity, and regeneration in other animals. We conclude that the contractile machinery shared between the endopinacoderm and myocytes likely evolved in the context of a multifunctional, muscle-related tissue in the animal stem-lineage. Furthermore, as an actin-regulated force-sensor, MRTF-activity offers a mechanism for how water canals dynamically remodel in response to flow and can re-form normally from stem-cells in the absence of the intrinsic positional cues characteristic of embryogenesis in other animals.

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1443
Author(s):  
Susana A. Teixeira ◽  
Daniele B. D. Marques ◽  
Thaís C. Costa ◽  
Haniel C. Oliveira ◽  
Karine A. Costa ◽  
...  

Since pre- and postnatal development are programmed during early prenatal life, studies addressing the complete transcriptional landscape during organogenesis are needed. Therefore, we aimed to disentangle differentially expressed (DE) genes between fetuses (at 35 days old) and embryos (at 25 days old) through RNA-sequencing analysis using the pig as model. In total, 1705 genes were DE, including the top DE IBSP, COL6A6, HBE1, HBZ, HBB, and NEUROD6 genes, which are associated with developmental transition from embryos to fetuses, such as ossification, skeletal muscle development, extracellular matrix organization, cardiovascular system, erythrocyte differentiation, and neuronal system. In pathway analysis, embryonic development highlighted those mainly related to morphogenic signaling and cell interactions, which are crucial for transcriptional control during the establishment of the main organs in early prenatal development, while pathways related to myogenesis, neuronal development, and cardiac and striated muscle contraction were enriched for fetal development, according to the greater complexity of organs and body structures at this developmental stage. Our findings provide an exploratory and informative transcriptional landscape of pig organogenesis, which might contribute to further studies addressing specific developmental events in pigs and in other mammals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Osvaldo Contreras ◽  
Fabio M. V. Rossi ◽  
Marine Theret

AbstractStriated muscle is a highly plastic and regenerative organ that regulates body movement, temperature, and metabolism—all the functions needed for an individual’s health and well-being. The muscle connective tissue’s main components are the extracellular matrix and its resident stromal cells, which continuously reshape it in embryonic development, homeostasis, and regeneration. Fibro-adipogenic progenitors are enigmatic and transformative muscle-resident interstitial cells with mesenchymal stem/stromal cell properties. They act as cellular sentinels and physiological hubs for adult muscle homeostasis and regeneration by shaping the microenvironment by secreting a complex cocktail of extracellular matrix components, diffusible cytokines, ligands, and immune-modulatory factors. Fibro-adipogenic progenitors are the lineage precursors of specialized cells, including activated fibroblasts, adipocytes, and osteogenic cells after injury. Here, we discuss current research gaps, potential druggable developments, and outstanding questions about fibro-adipogenic progenitor origins, potency, and heterogeneity. Finally, we took advantage of recent advances in single-cell technologies combined with lineage tracing to unify the diversity of stromal fibro-adipogenic progenitors. Thus, this compelling review provides new cellular and molecular insights in comprehending the origins, definitions, markers, fate, and plasticity of murine and human fibro-adipogenic progenitors in muscle development, homeostasis, regeneration, and repair.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Cary ◽  
Andrew Wolff ◽  
Olga ◽  
Joseph Pattinato ◽  
Veronica Hinman

ABSTRACTBackgroundMetazoan lineages exhibit a wide range of regenerative capabilities that vary among developmental stage and tissue type. The most robust regenerative abilities are apparent in the phyla Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, and Echinodermata, whose members are capable of whole-body regeneration (WBR). This phenomenon has been well-characterized in planarian and hydra models, but the molecular details of WBR are less established within echinoderms, or any other deuterostome system. Thus, it is not clear to what degree aspects of this regenerative ability are due to deeply conserved mechanisms.ResultsWe characterize regeneration in the larval stage of the Bat Star (Patiria miniata). Following bisection along the anterior-posterior axis, larvae progress through phases of wound healing and re-proportioning of larval tissues. The overall number of proliferating cells is reduced following bisection and we find evidence for a re-deployment of genes with known roles in embryonic axial patterning. Following axial re-specification, we observe a significant localization of proliferating cells to the wound region. Analyses of transcriptome data highlight the molecular signatures of functions that are common to regeneration, including specific signaling pathways and cell cycle controls. Notably, we find evidence for temporal conservation among orthologous genes involved in regeneration from published Platyhelminth and Cnidarian regeneration datasets.ConclusionsThese analyses show that sea star larval regeneration includes phases of wound response, axis respecification, and wound proximal proliferation. Commonalities of the overall process of regeneration, as well as gene usage between this deuterostome and other species with divergent evolutionary origins suggest a deep conservation of whole-body regeneration among the metazoa.


Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (11) ◽  
pp. 2179-2189 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Krause ◽  
M. Park ◽  
J.M. Zhang ◽  
J. Yuan ◽  
B. Harfe ◽  
...  

The E proteins of mammals, and the related Daughterless (DA) protein of Drosophila, are ubiquitously expressed helix-loop-helix (HLH) transcription factors that play a role in many developmental processes. We report here the characterization of a related C. elegans protein, CeE/DA, which has a dynamic and restricted distribution during development. CeE/DA is present embryonically in neuronal precursors, some of which are marked by promoter activity of a newly described Achaete-scute-like gene hlh-3. In contrast, we have been unable to detect CeE/DA in CeMyoD-positive striated muscle cells. In vitro gel mobility shift analysis detects dimerization of CeE/DA with HLH-3 while efficient interaction of CeE/DA with CeMyoD is not seen. These studies suggest multiple roles for CeE/DA in C. elegans development and provide evidence that both common and alternative strategies have evolved for the use of related HLH proteins in controlling cell fates in different species.


Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (10) ◽  
pp. 2041-2051 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.K. Corsi ◽  
S.A. Kostas ◽  
A. Fire ◽  
M. Krause

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Twist plays a role in mesodermal development in both invertebrates and vertebrates. In an effort to understand the role of the unique Caenorhabditis elegans Twist homolog, hlh-8, we analyzed mesodermal development in animals with a deletion in the hlh-8 locus. This deletion was predicted to represent a null allele because the HLH domain is missing and the reading frame for the protein is disrupted. Animals lacking CeTwist function were constipated and egg-laying defective. Both of these defects were rescued in transgenic mutant animals expressing wild-type hlh-8. Observing a series of mesoderm-specific markers allowed us to characterize the loss of hlh-8 function more thoroughly. Our results demonstrate that CeTwist performs an essential role in the proper development of a subset of mesodermal tissues in C. elegans. We found that CeTwist was required for the formation of three out of the four non-striated enteric muscles born in the embryo. In contrast, CeTwist was not required for the formation of the embryonically derived striated muscles. Most of the post-embryonic mesoderm develops from a single lineage. CeTwist was necessary for appropriate patterning in this lineage and was required for expression of two downstream target genes, but was not required for the expression of myosin, a marker of differentiation. Our results suggest that mesodermal patterning by Twist is an evolutionarily conserved function.


2012 ◽  
Vol 421 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jumpei Ito ◽  
Taiki Hashimoto ◽  
Sho Nakamura ◽  
Yusuke Aita ◽  
Tomoko Yamazaki ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 108 (6) ◽  
pp. 2459-2466 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Joseph-Silverstein ◽  
S A Consigli ◽  
K M Lyser ◽  
C Ver Pault

The identification of acidic and basic fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) in a number of embryonic tissue extracts has implicated these growth factors in the regulation of a variety of embryonic events including angiogenesis, eye development, and muscle differentiation. Lack of information concerning the cellular distribution of the growth factor within these tissues has made it extremely difficult to assign developmental roles to FGF. We have localized bFGF in the developing chick embryo using immunohistochemical techniques and our monospecific polyclonal rabbit anti-human bFGF IgG. The spatial pattern for bFGF localization was highly specific. The anti-human bFGF antibodies recognized striated muscle cells and their precursors in 2-6-d chick embryos. Myocardium, somite myotome, and limb bud muscle all stain positively for bFGF. In addition, the anti-human bFGF antibodies localized specifically to the cell, rather than to the extracellular matrix or nucleus of myotubes. The localization of bFGF demonstrated here provides further support for the hypothesis (Clegg et al., 1987; Seed et al., 1988) that this growth factor is involved in muscle development.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (5) ◽  
pp. C1175-C1182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianlin Zhang ◽  
Marie-Louise Bang ◽  
David S. Gokhin ◽  
Yingchun Lu ◽  
Li Cui ◽  
...  

Syncoilin is a striated muscle-specific intermediate filament-like protein, which is part of the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DPC) at the sarcolemma and provides a link between the extracellular matrix and the cytoskeleton through its interaction with α-dystrobrevin and desmin. Its upregulation in various neuromuscular diseases suggests that syncoilin may play a role in human myopathies. To study the functional role of syncoilin in cardiac and skeletal muscle in vivo, we generated syncoilin-deficient ( syncoilin−/−) mice. Our detailed analysis of these mice up to 2 yr of age revealed that syncoilin is entirely dispensable for cardiac and skeletal muscle development and maintenance of cellular structure but is required for efficient lateral force transmission during skeletal muscle contraction. Notably, syncoilin−/− skeletal muscle generates less maximal isometric stress than wild-type (WT) muscle but is as equally susceptible to eccentric contraction-induced injury as WT muscle. This suggests that syncoilin may play a supportive role for desmin in the efficient coupling of mechanical stress between the myofibril and fiber exterior. It is possible that the reduction in isometric stress production may predispose the syncoilin skeletal muscle to a dystrophic condition.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1141
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Kaixiang Jin ◽  
Honghui Zhu ◽  
Gongfei Song ◽  
Haojian Lu ◽  
...  

Soft robotic grippers are able to carry out many tasks that traditional rigid-bodied grippers cannot perform but often have many limitations in terms of control and feedback. In this study, a Fin Ray effect inspired soft robotic gripper is proposed with its whole body directly 3D printed using soft material without the need of assembly. As a result, the soft gripper has a light weight, simple structure, is enabled with high compliance and conformability, and is able to grasp objects with arbitrary geometry. A force sensor is embedded in the inner side of the gripper, which allows the contact force required to grip the object to be measured in order to guarantee successful grasping and to provide the most suitable gripping force. In addition, it enables control and data monitoring of the gripper’s operating state at all times. Characterization and grasping demonstration of the gripper are given in the Experiment section. Results show that the gripper can be used in a wide range of scenarios and applications, such as the service robot and food industry.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document