Myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) has been implicated in the complex hierarchical regulation of muscle-specific gene expression and differentiation. While the MyoD family members are able to initiate the skeletal muscle differentiation program, whether MEF2 is sufficient in directing skeletal muscle differentiation is still controversial. Furthermore, how MEF2 transactivates its target genes is ...

Rationale: Myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) transcription factors drive the genetic reprogramming that precipitates pathological cardiac hypertrophy and remodeling. Class II histone deacetylase (HDAC) isoforms, such as HDAC5, act as signal-responsive repressors of MEF2 activity in cardiac myocytes and their nuclear export provides a key mechanism for the neurohormonal induction of such activity...

objective(s):  coronary artery disease (cad) which may lead to myocardial infarction (mi) is a complex one. great effort has been devoted to identification of genes that increase susceptibility to cad or provide protection. a 21-bp deletion in the mef2a gene, which encodes a member of the myocyte enhancer factor 2 family of transcription factors, has been reported in patients of a single pedigr...

Studies with the myogenic basic helix-loop-helix and MADS box factors suggest that efficient transactivation is dependent on the recruitment of the steroid receptor coactivator (SRC) and the cofactors p300 and p300/CBP-associated factor. SRCs have been demonstrated to recruit CARM1 (coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase-1), a member of the S-adenosyl-l-methionine-dependent PRMT1-5 (...

The neurohypophyseal nonapeptide Arg8 vasopressin (AVP) promotes differentiation of cultured L6 and L5 myogenic cell lines and mouse primary satellite cells. Here, we investigated the molecular mechanism involved in the induction of the myogenic program by AVP. In L6 cells, AVP treatment rapidly induces Myf-5, myogenin, and myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) mRNAs, without affecting the expressio...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease of the pulmonary arterioles, characterized by increased pulmonary arterial pressure and right ventricular failure. The cause of PAH is complex, but aberrant proliferation of the pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) and pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells is thought to play an important role in its pathogenesis. Und...

Class II histone deacetylases (HDACs) bind myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2) and repress specific gene expression in a calcium-dependent manner. Despite their significant physiological functions in muscle, immune and neuronal cells, the mechanism of recruitment of class II HDACs by MEF2 is not well understood. Here, we have characterized the complex between the MEF2-binding motif of class II HDA...

Myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2) is a transcription factor that is necessary for embryonic muscle development in Drosophila and vertebrates; however, whether this factor is required during later muscle development remains largely unknown. Using heteroallelic combinations of different Mef2 mutant alleles, we isolated and characterized a temperature-sensitive combination. Through temperature-shif...