Regulatory Networks of Gene Expression in Heart and Skeletal Muscle Cells

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

The development and maintenance of muscle cells is controlled by complex regulatory networks involving epigenetic marks and trans-cription factors. While histone modifications influence the compaction of chromatin and consequently the accessibility of DNA, transcription factors are responsible for a fine tuning of expression. In this study, modern high-throughput methods of molecular biology together with bioinformatic analyses were used to decipher the architecture of these networks. The role of activating histone modi-fications and their potential interactions with key cardiac transcription factors in the context of muscle development and congenital heart diseases are presented. Several hundred genes regulated by the transcription factors Gata4, Mef2a, Nkx2.5, and Srf were identified, demonstrating their essential role in the formation of cardiac structures. The findings support the existence of a complex combinatorial ‘histone code’ and suggest that histone modifications have further functions as signaling marks. This book is addressed to researchers in a modern molecular biology laboratory, including the fields of biology, biochemistry, bio-informatics, and medicine.