doi: 10.1161/01.RES.0000259563.61091.e8
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.
Reviews |
Myocardin-Related Transcription Factors
Critical Coactivators Regulating Cardiovascular Development and Adaptation
From the University of Pennsylvania Cardiovascular Institute and Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Correspondence to Michael S. Parmacek, MD, 9123 Founders Pavilion, 3400 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail michael.parmacek{at}uphs.upenn.edu
This Review is part of a thematic series on Transcription Factors, which includes the following articles:
Regulation of Vascular Inflammation and Remodeling by ETS Factors
Myocardin-Related Transcription Factors: Critical Coactivators Regulating Cardiovascular Development and Adaptation
Role of Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors in Endothelial Biology
Forkhead Factors in Cardiovascular Biology
Notch Signaling and Angiogenesis
Mukesh Jain Guest Editor
The association of transcriptional coactivators with DNA-binding proteins provides an efficient mechanism to expand and modulate genetic information encoded within the genome. Myocardin-related transcription factors (MRTFs), including myocardin, MRTF-A/MKL1/MAL, and MRTF-B/MKL2, comprise a family of related transcriptional coactivators that physically associate with the MADS box transcription factor, serum response factor, and synergistically activate transcription. MRTFs transduce cytoskeletal signals to the nucleus, activating a subset of serum response factor–dependent genes promoting myogenic differentiation and cytoskeletal organization. MRTFs are multifunctional proteins that share evolutionarily conserved domains required for actin-binding, homo- and heterodimerization, high-order chromatin organization, and transcriptional activation. Mice harboring loss-of-function mutations in myocardin, MRTF-A, and MRTF-B, respectively, display distinct phenotypes, including cell autonomous defects in vascular smooth muscle cell and myoepithelial cell differentiation and function. This article reviews the molecular basis of MRTF function with particular focus on the role MRTFs play in regulating cardiovascular patterning, vascular smooth muscle cell and cardiomyocyte differentiation and in the pathogenesis of congenital heart disease and vascular proliferative syndromes.
Key Words: myocardin • myocardin-related transcription factor • serum response factor • transcription • smooth muscle cell • cardiovascular development • congenital heart disease
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  P. E. Westerweel and M. C. Verhaar Directing Myogenic Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation Circ. Res., September 12, 2008; 103(6): 560 - 561. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. S. Jeon, W. S. Park, M. J. Lee, Y. M. Kim, J. Han, and J. H. Kim A Rho Kinase/Myocardin-Related Transcription Factor-A-Dependent Mechanism Underlies the Sphingosylphosphorylcholine-Induced Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Into Contractile Smooth Muscle Cells Circ. Res., September 12, 2008; 103(6): 635 - 642. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. S. Parmacek Myocardin: Dominant Driver of the Smooth Muscle Cell Contractile Phenotype Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol., August 1, 2008; 28(8): 1416 - 1417. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. M. Miano Deck of CArGs Circ. Res., July 3, 2008; 103(1): 13 - 15. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. V. Autieri Kruppel-Like Factor 4: Transcriptional Regulator of Proliferation, or Inflammation, or Differentiation, or All Three? Circ. Res., June 20, 2008; 102(12): 1455 - 1457. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. S. Beyer, R. L. Beauchamp, M.-F. Lee, J. F. Gusella, A. M. Naar, and V. Ramesh Mediator Subunit MED28 (Magicin) Is a Repressor of Smooth Muscle Cell Differentiation J. Biol. Chem., November 2, 2007; 282(44): 32152 - 32157. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|