spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Propose a Workshop for 2011 spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online December 14, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 15-23 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.012435
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mery, A.
Right arrow Articles by Bodmer, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mery, A.
Right arrow Articles by Bodmer, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The Drosophila muscle LIM protein, Mlp84B, is essential for cardiac function

Annabelle Mery1, Ouarda Taghli-Lamallem1, Kathleen A. Clark2, Mary C. Beckerle2, Xiushan Wu3, Karen Ocorr1 and Rolf Bodmer1,*

1 Development and Aging Program, Neuroscience, Aging and Stem Cell Research Center, Burnham Institute for Medical Research, 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
2 Hunstman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
3 Center for Heart Development, College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: rolf{at}burnham.org)

Accepted 16 October 2007

Muscle LIM protein (MLP) is a cytoskeletal protein located at the Z-disc of sarcomeres. Mutations in the human MLP gene are associated with hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy. MLP has been proposed to be a key player in the stretch-sensing response, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its function in normal and diseased cardiac muscle have not been established. A Drosophila homolog, Mlp84B, displays a similar subcellular localization at the Z-disc of sarcomeres throughout development and in the adult, suggesting Drosophila as a model to study MLP function. Here we employed genetic ablation and cardiac-specific RNA interference (RNAi) knockdown of mlp84B to investigate its role in heart function. We found that Mlp84B-deficient or heart-specific RNAi knockdown flies exhibit diastolic interval prolongation, heart rhythm abnormalities and a reduced lifespan, while showing no obvious structural phenotype. Our data demonstrate that Mlp84B is essential for normal cardiac function and establish the Drosophila model for the investigation of the mechanisms connecting defective cardiac Z-disc components to the development of cardiomyopathy.

Key words: Drosophila, muscle LIM protein, cardiomyopathy, cardiac function, arrhythmia, cytoskeleton, sarcomere


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Hum Mol GenetHome page
L. Qian and R. Bodmer
Partial loss of GATA factor Pannier impairs adult heart function in Drosophila
Hum. Mol. Genet., September 1, 2009; 18(17): 3153 - 3163.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2008