ARHGEF3 Regulates Skeletal Muscle Regeneration and Strength through Autophagy.

Skeletal muscle regeneration after injury is essential for maintaining muscle function throughout aging. ARHGEF3, a RhoA/B-specific GEF, negatively regulates myoblast differentiation through Akt signaling independently of its GEF activity in vitro. Here, we report ARHGEF3's role in skeletal muscle regeneration revealed by ARHGEF3-KO mice. These mice exhibit indiscernible phenotype under basal conditions. Upon acute injury, however, ARHGEF3 deficiency enhances the mass/fiber size and function of regenerating muscles in both young and regeneration-defective middle-aged mice. Surprisingly, these effects occur independently of Akt but via the GEF activity of ARHGEF3. Consistently, overexpression of ARHGEF3 inhibits muscle regeneration in a Rho-associated kinase-dependent manner. We further show that ARHGEF3 KO promotes muscle regeneration through activation of autophagy, a process that is also critical for maintaining muscle strength. Accordingly, ARHGEF3 depletion in old mice prevents muscle weakness by restoring autophagy. Taken together, our findings identify a link between ARHGEF3 and autophagy-related muscle pathophysiology. Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Jae-Sung You, Nilmani Singh, Adriana Reyes-Ordonez, Nidhi Khanna, Zehua Bao, Huimin Zhao, Jie Chen. ARHGEF3 Regulates Skeletal Muscle Regeneration and Strength through Autophagy. Cell reports. 2021 Jan 05;34(1):108594

Mesh Tags

Substances

PMID: 33406419

search → result