Muscle

A small selection of  Open Access articles on muscle from The Company of Biologists’ journals

REVIEWS

Intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms regulating satellite cell function 

Nicolas A. Dumont, Yu Xin Wang, Michael A. Rudnicki

Development 2015 142: 1572-1581; doi: 10.1242/dev.114223

Summary: This Review discusses how satellite stem cell behaviour is regulated during regeneration and degeneration by a complex balance between extrinsic cues and intrinsic regulatory mechanisms.

Mechanisms of skeletal muscle aging: insights from Drosophila and mammalian models

Fabio Demontis, Rosanna Piccirillo, Alfred L. Goldberg, Norbert Perrimon

Disease Models & Mechanisms 2013 6: 1339-1352; doi: 10.1242/dmm.012559

Animal models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy: from basic mechanisms to gene therapy

Joe W. McGreevy, Chady H. Hakim, Mark A. McIntosh, Dongsheng Duan

Disease Models & Mechanisms 2015 8: 195-213; doi: 10.1242/dmm.018424

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Fine-tuning the onset of myogenesis by homeobox proteins that interact with the Myf5 limb enhancer

Philippe Daubas, Nathalie Duval, Lola Bajard, Francina Langa Vives, Benoît Robert, Baljinder S. Mankoo, Margaret Buckingham

Biology Open 2015 4: 1614-1624; doi: 10.1242/bio.014068

Summary: Homeodomain factors Msx1 and Meox2, acting in addition to Pax3 and Six1/4, fine-tune the entry of progenitor cells into myogenesis at early stages of forelimb development via modulation of limb enhancer gene Myf5.

HSPB7 interacts with dimerized FLNC and its absence results in progressive myopathy in skeletal muscles

Liang-Yi Juo, Wern-Chir Liao, Yen-Ling Shih, Bih-Ying Yang, An-Bang Liu, Yu-Ting Yan

J Cell Sci 2016 129: 1661-1670; doi: 10.1242/jcs.179887

Highlighted Article: HSPB7 plays a crucial role in the maintenance of the muscle integrity, possibly through stabilizing the function of FLNC.

The role of Sema3–Npn-1 signaling during diaphragm innervation and muscle development

Maximilian Michael Saller, Rosa-Eva Huettl, Philipp Hanuschick, Anna-Lena Amend, Paolo Alberton, Attila Aszodi, Andrea B. Huber

J Cell Sci 2016 129: 3295-3308; doi: 10.1242/jcs.186015

Highlighted Article: Sema3A–Npn-1 signaling cell autonomously influences phrenic nerve branching in the diaphragm and induces ectopic muscle formation through secondary mechanisms, possibly by Slit–Robo signaling.

Graded effects of unregulated smooth muscle myosin on intestinal architecture, intestinal motility and vascular function in zebrafish

Joshua Abrams, Zev Einhorn, Christoph Seiler, Alan B. Zong, H. Lee Sweeney, Michael Pack

Disease Models & Mechanisms 2016 9: 529-540; doi: 10.1242/dmm.023309

Editors’ choice: Two newly identified Myh11 gene missense mutations discovered in a zebrafish enhancer-suppressor mutagenesis screen are reported. The mutations disrupt myosin regulation and ATPase activity in a graded fashion, and this correlated with their effects on intestinal and vascular physiology.

Amontillado is required for Drosophila Slit processing and for tendon-mediated muscle patterning

Elly Ordan, Talila Volk

Biology Open 2016 5: 1530-1534; doi: 10.1242/bio.020636

Summary: The Drosophila homolog of pheromone convertase 2 (PC2), amontillado (Amon), is shown to contribute to Slit processing and further cleavage into an N-Slit, essential for Slit activity in directing muscle patterning.

Children and adults minimise activated muscle volume by selecting gait parameters that balance gross mechanical power and work demands

Tatjana Y. Hubel, James R. Usherwood

Journal of Experimental Biology 2015 218: 2830-2839; doi: 10.1242/jeb.122135Highlighted Article: The gross mechanics of walking and running children and adults support a new model for the costs dominating level terrestrial locomotion – muscle activation for mechanical work or power.

Take-off speed in jumping mantises depends on body size and a power-limited mechanism

G. P. Sutton, M. Doroshenko, D. A. Cullen, M. Burrows

Journal of Experimental Biology 2016 219: 2127-2136; doi: 10.1242/jeb.133728Summary: Praying mantises, which use direct muscle contractions to generate jumps, have take-off velocities limited by the amount of power (energy/time) the muscles can produce.

TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES

A system for studying mechanisms of neuromuscular junction development and maintenance

Valérie Vilmont, Bruno Cadot, Gilles Ouanounou, Edgar R. Gomes

Development 2016 143: 2464-2477; doi: 10.1242/dev.130278

Summary: Co-culture of rodent spinal cord explants and primary myoblasts provides an in vitro system to study fundamental aspects of neuromuscular junction formation, maintenance and dysfunction.