Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1992 Sep;12(9):3665-77.
doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.9.3665-3677.1992.

Analysis of the myogenin promoter reveals an indirect pathway for positive autoregulation mediated by the muscle-specific enhancer factor MEF-2

D G Edmondson  1 , T C Cheng, P Cserjesi, T Chakraborty, E N Olson
Affiliations

Analysis of the myogenin promoter reveals an indirect pathway for positive autoregulation mediated by the muscle-specific enhancer factor MEF-2

D G Edmondson et al. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Sep.

Abstract

Transcriptional cascades that specify cell fate have been well described in invertebrates. In mammalian development, however, gene hierarchies involved in determination of cell lineage are not understood. With the recent cloning of the MyoD family of myogenic regulatory factors, a model system has become available with which to study the dynamics of muscle determination in mammalian development. Myogenin, along with other members of the MyoD gene family, possesses the apparent ability to redirect nonmuscle cells into the myogenic lineage. This ability appears to be due to the direct activation of an array of subordinate or downstream genes which are responsible for formation and function of the muscle contractile apparatus. Myogenin-directed transcription has been shown to occur through interaction with a DNA consensus sequence known as an E box (CANNTG) present in the control regions of numerous downstream genes. In addition to activating the transcription of subordinate genes, members of the MyoD family positively regulate their own expression and cross-activate one another's expression. These autoregulatory interactions have been suggested as a mechanism for induction and maintenance of the myogenic phenotype, but the molecular details of the autoregulatory circuits are undefined. Here we show that the myogenin promoter contains a binding site for the myocyte-specific enhancer-binding factor, MEF-2, which can function as an intermediary of myogenin autoactivation. Since MEF-2 can be induced by myogenin, these results suggest that myogenin and MEF-2 participate in a transcriptional cascade in which MEF-2, once induced by myogenin, acts to amplify and maintain the myogenic phenotype by acting as a positive regulator of myogenin expression.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cell. 1990 Apr 6;61(1):49-59 - PubMed
    1. Development. 1990 Apr;108(4):669-80 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1990 Nov 23;250(4984):1104-10 - PubMed
    1. Genes Dev. 1990 Dec;4(12A):2086-97 - PubMed
    1. Genes Dev. 1990 Sep;4(9):1454-61 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data