Fhos Expression is Required for Striated Flight Muscle Formation and Viability in Flies

摘要: Recently we demonstrated that a peptide variant of FHOD3, an actin filament regulator, is associated with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), and that the FHOD3 D. melanogaster homologue fhos is required for normal heart contractile function. Based upon the association of FHOD3 with HCM, we hypothesized that fhos is required for normal muscle development in flies. Using a Fhos-Gal4 driver line regulating GFP expression we demonstrated fhos gene expression in both flight and jump muscles. Using RNA interference we found fhos expression to be required in the mesoderm (HOW-Gal4 driver (p=2.81E-05)) and muscle (MEF2-Gal4 driver (p=0.000445)) for flies to develop past the eclosion stage. By comparison, fhos knockdown in motor neurons (D42- Gal4) and early mesoderm (Twist-Gal4) was not lethal. Histological analysis following fhos silencing demonstrated a striking disorganization of muscle fibers …