Figure 5.

Up-regulation of TGFβ and SRF by ROCKΔ1. A, B) Enhanced SRF binding to the c-fos SRE was assessed by EMSA assay in the transgenic (TG) heart (A), and the assay intensity was quantified from 6 mice/group (B). C–F) qPCR analysis of TGFβ1 and SRF transcripts. Significant increases in TGFβ1 (C, D) and SRF (E, F) mRNA levels were observed in C2C12 myoblasts transfected with the ROCKΔ1 expression plasmid (C, E), and both increases were diminished by the SRF deficiency induced by the siRNA specific for SRF or by a dominant negative SRF-N (D, F). qPCR data were pooled from 3 repeated experiments in each group with triplicate analyses for each time. Δ1, ROCKΔ1; ROCKΔ1KD, mutant ROCKΔ1 with kinase deficiency; SRF-N, N-terminal SRF (a dominant negative SRF isoform); a.u., arbitrary unit. *P < 0.01 vs. control; ^ΔP < 0.01 vs. wild type (WT).