Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

FUSOGENIC REGULATORS, MYOMAKER AND MYOMIXER, ARE ESSENTIAL FOR MYOBLAST FUSION AND FISH MUSCLE GROWTH

Shaojun Du* , Jun Shi, Yufeng Si , Mengxin Cai and Ping Wu

 

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology,
University of Maryland Baltimore,
701 East Pratt Street,
Baltimore, MD, 21202, USA.
sdu@som.umaryland.edu

 



 Muscle development and growth require myoblast fusion to form multinucleated muscle fibers. Several fusiogenic regulators have been identified that play vital roles in myoblast fusion in fish embryos. Loss-of- function  (LOF)  mutations in Jamb , JamC , Myomaker (Mymk ),  and Myomixer (Mymx )  resulted in  similar defective myoblast fusion and formation of mononucleated fibers in fish embryos.  To investigate their  LOF effects  on fish muscle growth , we characterized the muscle  phenotypes in adult  zebrafish carrying single and double genetic mutations in jamb, jamc , mymk and mymx genes . We found that although myoblast fusion was compromised in  zebrafish embryos of  jamb and jamc single or jamb;jamc double mutants, these mutant fish showed no defect in muscle growth. The mutant fish were able to grow into adults that were indistinguishable from the wild-type sibling. In contrast, the  adult mymk , mymx single, and jamb;mymk double mutants exhibited a stronger muscle phenotype compared to the jamb and jamc single and double mutants. The mymk and mymx single and jamb;mymk double mutants were smaller in size and weighed approximately one-third the weight of the wild type (WT) sibling.  Single fiber analysis of adult skeletal myofibers revealed that jamb, jamc , or jamb;jamc mutants contained multinucleated myofibers with tens to hundreds of myonuclei per fiber , whereas mymk , mymx single and jamb;mymk double mutants contained mostly fibers with less than 10 nuclei per fiber . Significant intramuscular adipocyte infiltration was found in skeletal muscles of the mymk , mymx and jamb;mymk mutants . Collectively, these studies demonstrate that although Jamb, Jamc , Mymk and Mymx are all involved in myoblast fusion during early myogenesis, they have distinct roles in myoblast fusion during muscle growth. While  Jamb and Jamc are dispensable for muscle growth , Mymk and Mymx are essential for myoblast fusion and  muscle  growth,