Muscle growth occurs during embryonic development and continues in adult life as regeneration. During embryonic muscle growth and regeneration in mature muscle, singly nucleated myoblasts fuse to each other to form myotubes. In muscle growth, singly nucleated myoblasts can also fuse to existing large,syncytial myofibers as a mechanism of increasing muscle mass without increasing myofiber number. Myoblast fusion requires the alignment and fusion of two apposed lipid bilayers. The repair of muscle plasma membrane disruptions also relies on the fusion of two apposed lipid bilayers. The protein dysferlin, the product of the Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy type 2 locus, has been shown to be necessary for efficient, calcium-sensitive,membrane resealing. We now show that the related protein myoferlin is highly expressed in myoblasts undergoing fusion, and is expressed at the site of myoblasts fusing to myotubes. Like dysferlin, we found that myoferlin binds phospholipids in a calcium-sensitive manner that requires the first C2A domain. We generated mice with a null allele of myoferlin. Myoferlin null myoblasts undergo initial fusion events, but they form large myotubes less efficiently in vitro, consistent with a defect in a later stage of myogenesis. In vivo, myoferlin null mice have smaller muscles than controls do, and myoferlin null muscle lacks large diameter myofibers. Additionally, myoferlin null muscle does not regenerate as well as wild-type muscle does, and instead displays a dystrophic phenotype. These data support a role for myoferlin in the maturation of myotubes and the formation of large myotubes that arise from the fusion of myoblasts to multinucleate myotubes.

Most single-gene diseases, including muscular dystrophy, display a nonuniform phenotype. Phenotypic variability arises, in part, due to the presence of genetic modifiers that enhance or suppress the disease process. We employed an unbiased mapping approach to search for genes that modify muscular dystrophy in mice. In a genome-wide scan, we identified a single strong locus on chromosome 7 that influenced two pathological features of muscular dystrophy, muscle membrane permeability and muscle fibrosis. Within this genomic interval, an insertion/deletion polymorphism of 36 bp in the coding region of the latent TGF-β-binding protein 4 gene (Ltbp4) was found. Ltbp4 encodes a latent TGF-β-binding protein that sequesters TGF-β and regulates its availability for binding to the TGF-β receptor. Insertion of 12 amino acids into the proline-rich region of LTBP4 reduced proteolytic cleavage and was associated with reduced TGF-β signaling, decreased fibrosis, and improved muscle pathology in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy. In contrast, a 12-amino-acid deletion in LTBP4 was associated with increased proteolysis, SMAD signaling, and fibrosis. These data identify Ltbp4 as a target gene to regulate TGF-β signaling and modify outcomes in muscular dystrophy.

Mutations in the gene encoding the inner nuclear membrane proteins lamins A and C produce cardiac and skeletal muscle dysfunction referred to as Emery Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. Lamins A and C participate in the LINC complex that, along with the nesprin and SUN proteins, LInk the Nucleoskeleton with the Cytoskeleton. Nesprins 1 and 2 are giant spectrin-repeat containing proteins that have large and small forms. The nesprins contain a transmembrane anchor that tethers to the nuclear membrane followed by a short domain that resides within the lumen between the inner and outer nuclear membrane. Nesprin's luminal domain binds directly to SUN proteins. We generated mice where the C-terminus of nesprin-1 was deleted. This strategy produced a protein lacking the transmembrane and luminal domains that together are referred to as the KASH domain. Mice homozygous for this mutation exhibit lethality with approximately half dying at or near birth from respiratory failure. Surviving mice display hindlimb weakness and an abnormal gait. With increasing age, kyphoscoliosis, muscle pathology and cardiac conduction defects develop. The protein components of the LINC complex, including mutant nesprin-1alpha, lamin A/C and SUN2, are localized at the nuclear membrane in this model. However, the LINC components do not normally associate since coimmunoprecipitation experiments with SUN2 and nesprin reveal that mutant nesprin-1 protein no longer interacts with SUN2. These findings demonstrate the role of the LINC complex, and nesprin-1, in neuromuscular and cardiac disease.

Myostatin, a TGF-L L family member, is a negative regulator of muscle growth. Here, we generated transgenic mice that expressed myostatin mutated at its cleavage site under the control of a muscle specific promoter creating a dominant negative myostatin. These mice exhibited a significant (20^35%) increase in muscle mass that resulted from myofiber hypertrophy and not from myofiber hyperplasia. We also evaluated the role of myostatin in muscle degenerative states, such as muscular dystrophy, and found significant downregulation of myostatin. Thus, further inhibition of myostatin may permit increased muscle growth in muscle degenerative disorders.z 2000 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

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