Person:

Lassar, Andrew

In this issue, Gillespie et al. (Gillespie et al. 2009. J. Cell Biol. doi:10.1083/jcb.200907037) demonstrate that the mitogen-activated protein kinase isoform p38-γ plays a crucial role in blocking the premature differentiation of satellite cells, a skeletal muscle stem cell population. p38-γ puts the brakes on skeletal muscle differentiation by promoting the association of the transcription factor MyoD with the histone methyltransferase, KMT1A, which act together in a complex to repress the premature expression of the gene encoding the myogenic transcription factor Myogenin.

In the limb bud, patterning along the anterior-posterior (A-P) axis is controlled by Sonic Hedgehog (Shh), a signaling molecule secreted by the “Zone of Polarizing Activity”, an organizer tissue located in the posterior margin of the limb bud. We have found that the transcription factors GATA4 and GATA6, which are key regulators of cell identity, are expressed in an anterior to posterior gradient in the early limb bud, raising the possibility that GATA transcription factors may play an additional role in patterning this tissue. While both GATA4 and GATA6 are expressed in an A-P gradient in the forelimb buds, the hindlimb buds principally express GATA6 in an A-P gradient. Thus, to specifically examine the role of GATA6 in limb patterning we generated Prx1-Cre; GATA6fl/fl mice, which conditionally delete GATA6 from their developing limb buds. We found that these animals display ectopic expression of both Shh and its transcriptional targets specifically in the anterior mesenchyme of the hindlimb buds. Loss of GATA6 in the developing limbs results in the formation of preaxial polydactyly in the hindlimbs. Conversely, forced expression of GATA6 throughout the limb bud represses expression of Shh and results in hypomorphic limbs. We have found that GATA6 can bind to chromatin (isolated from limb buds) encoding either Shh or Gli1 regulatory elements that drive expression of these genes in this tissue, and demonstrated that GATA6 works synergistically with FOG co-factors to repress expression of luciferase reporters driven by these sequences. Most significantly, we have found that conditional loss of Shh in limb buds lacking GATA6 prevents development of hindlimb polydactyly in these compound mutant embryos, indicating that GATA6 expression in the anterior region of the limb bud blocks hindlimb polydactyly by repressing ectopic expression of Shh.

Recent studies have postulated that distinct regulatory cascades control myogenic differentiation in the head and the trunk. However, although the tissues and signaling molecules that induce skeletal myogenesis in the trunk have been identified, the source of the signals that trigger skeletal muscle formation in the head remain obscure. Here we show that although myogenesis in the trunk paraxial mesoderm is induced by Wnt signals from the dorsal neural tube, myogenesis in the cranial paraxial mesoderm is blocked by these same signals. In addition, BMP family members that are expressed in both the dorsal neural tube and surface ectoderm are also potent inhibitors of myogenesis in the cranial paraxial mesoderm. We provide evidence suggesting that skeletal myogenesis in the head is induced by the BMP inhibitors, Noggin and Gremlin, and the Wnt inhibitor, Frzb. These molecules are secreted by both cranial neural crest cells and by other tissues surrounding the cranial muscle anlagen. Our findings demonstrate that head muscle formation is locally repressed by Wnt and BMP signals and induced by antagonists of these signaling pathways secreted by adjacent tissues.

Pax7 is a key regulator of skeletal muscle stem cells and is required along with Pax3 to generate skeletal muscle precursors. We have identified a collection of genes induced by either Pax3 or Pax7 in C2C12 muscle cells. Two notable Pax3/7 targets are the inhibitory helix-loop-helix (HLH) proteins inhibitor of DNA binding (Id) 2 and Id3, both of which are coordinately expressed with Pax7 in quiescent satellite cells and are induced in quiescent C2C12 myogenic cells after ectopic expression of either Pax3 or Pax7. Ectopic Pax7 activates expression of a luciferase reporter driven by the Id3 promoter, and maximal induction of this reporter requires a conserved Pax7 binding site located upstream of the Id3 gene. Chromatin immunoprecipitation indicated that Pax7 is bound upstream of the Id3 promoter in quiescent satellite cells. In addition, short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of Pax7 expression in cultured satellite cells coordinately decreased both Id2 and Id3 expression. Together, these findings indicate that Id3 is a direct transcriptional target for Pax7 in quiescent satellite cells, and they suggest that Pax7 acts to block premature differentiation of quiescent satellite cells by inducing the expression of Id2 and Id3, which in turn may act to block either the precocious induction of myogenic basic (b)HLH proteins, the activity of myogenic bHLH proteins, or both.