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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
14
pubmed:dateCreated
2006-12-4
pubmed:abstractText
Electrocytes, the current-producing cells of electric organs (EOs) in electric fish, are unique in that they derive from striated muscle and they possess biochemical characteristics of both muscle and non-muscle cells. In the freshwater teleost Sternopygus macrurus, electrocytes are multinucleated cells that do not contract yet retain expression of some proteins common to skeletal muscle cells. Given the role that transcriptional regulation plays in the activation of the myogenic program in vertebrates, we examined the expression patterns of several genes associated with multiple functions of skeletal muscle in mature electrocytes of S. macrurus. Our expression analyses detected transcripts for alpha-actin, alpha-acetylcholine (ACh) receptor (alpha-AChR), desmin, muscle creatine kinase (MCK), myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms, titin, tropomyosin, and troponin-T genes in the EO. However, immunolabeling studies revealed that electrocytes do not contain MCK, MHCs, or tropomyosin or troponin-T proteins. These results underscore the contribution of gene regulatory mechanisms in the maintenance of the muscle-like phenotype of EO that may be transcriptional-independent. We also report the classification and frequency of distinct transcripts from a random selection of 420 clones from an EO cDNA library. This is the first characterization of expressed genes in an EO, and it is an important step toward identifying mechanisms that affect different muscle protein systems for the evolution of highly specialized noncontractile tissues. Evidence of post-transcriptional regulation in the maintenance of a partial muscle phenotype by electrogenic cells of S. macrurus.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Dec
pubmed:issn
1530-6860
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
20
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
2540
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-9-22
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2006
pubmed:articleTitle
Evidence of post-transcriptional regulation in the maintenance of a partial muscle phenotype by electrogenic cells of S. macrurus.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biology, Foster Hall, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural