“…Here we provide examples of “famous” target genes that were shown to be (a) MRTF-dependent in kidney cells and/or (b) directly related to renal pathologies. These include the contractility protein myosin [ 16 , 141 ], the myofibroblast hallmark α-SMA [ 16 , 20 , 104 , 142 , 143 ], actin-severing (cofilin), capping (CapZ) [ 20 ]) and bundling (filamin) [ 144 ]) proteins; focal adhesion and cell-matrix components (α and β integrins [ 145 ]), tenascin [ 144 , 146 ]); extracellular matrix proteins (collagen [ 62 , 147 ], CTGF [ 124 , 148 , 149 , 150 ]); caveolar proteins (caveolin 1 [ 144 , 151 ]), fibrogenic cytokines (TGFβ [ 124 ]), cell cycle regulators (p21 [ 152 ]), NADPH oxidases [ 153 , 154 ]; and transcription factors, encompassing SRF itself [ 20 ], the EMT drivers Snai1/2 and ZEB2 [ 155 , 156 , 157 ] and the Hippo effector TAZ [ 22 , 95 ]. Moreover, SRF/MRTF-targeted CArG motifs are frequently located in the vicinity of AP1 and TEAD sites (that are activated by YAP/TAZ), showing that these TFs often regulate the same genes, and may act synergistically with MRTF [ 23 ].…”