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. 1995 Jan 17;92(2):561–565. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.2.561

Activation of the myogenin promoter during mouse embryogenesis in the absence of positive autoregulation.

T C Cheng 1, B S Tseng 1, J P Merlie 1, W H Klein 1, E N Olson 1
PMCID: PMC42781  PMID: 7831329

Abstract

Myogenin, a member of the MyoD family of helix-loop-helix proteins, can induce myogenesis in a wide range of cell types. In addition to activating muscle structural genes, members of the MyoD family can autoactivate their own and cross-activate one another's expression in transfected cells. This has led to the hypothesis that autoregulatory loops among these factors provide a mechanism for amplifying and maintaining the muscle-specific gene expression program in vivo. Here, we make use of myogenin-null mice to directly test this hypothesis. To investigate whether the myogenin protein autoregulates the myogenin gene during embryogenesis, we introduced a myogenin-lacZ transgene into mice harboring a null mutation at the myogenin locus. Despite a severe deficiency of skeletal muscle in myogenin-null neonates, the myogenin-lacZ transgene was expressed normally in myogenic cells throughout embryogenesis. These results show that myogenin is not required for regulation of the myogenin gene and argue against the existence of a myogenin autoregulatory loop in the embryo.

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Selected References

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