Research Article 2413 Myoferlin regulation by NFAT in muscle injury, regeneration and repair Alexis R. Demonbreun1,2, Karen A. Lapidos2,3, Konstantina Heretis2, Samantha Levin2, Rodney Dale1, Peter Pytel4, Eric C. Svensson1,3 and Elizabeth M. McNally1,2,3,* 1Committee on Developmental Biology, 2Department of Medicine, 3Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and 4Department of Pathology, The University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC 6088, Chicago, IL 60637, USA *Author for correspondence (
[email protected]) Accepted 9 April 2010 Journal of Cell Science 123, 2413-2422 © 2010. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd doi:10.1242/jcs.065375 Summary Ferlin proteins mediate membrane-fusion events in response to Ca2+. Myoferlin, a member of the ferlin family, is required for normal muscle development, during which it mediates myoblast fusion. We isolated both damaged and intact myofibers from a mouse model of muscular dystrophy using laser-capture microdissection and found that the levels of myoferlin mRNA and protein were increased in damaged myofibers. To better define the components of the muscle-injury response, we identified a discreet 1543-bp fragment of the myoferlin promoter, containing multiple NFAT-binding sites, and found that this was sufficient to drive high-level myoferlin expression in cells and in vivo. This promoter recapitulated normal myoferlin expression in that it was downregulated in healthy myofibers and was upregulated in response to myofiber damage. Transgenic mice expressing GFP under the control of the myoferlin promoter were generated and GFP expression in this model was used to track muscle damage in vivo after muscle injury and in muscle disease.