| First Author | Carayon Alexandre | Year | 2020 |
| Journal | Elife | Volume | 9 |
| PubMed ID | 32706334 | Abstract Text | Drosophilamuscle identity mutants allows to investigate, in vivo, physiological and mechanical properties of abnormal muscles. Drosophila melanogaster. However, like many transcription factors, Collier also has several other roles throughout the body. This made it difficult to evaluate the effect of the protein on the formation of specific muscles. Here, Carayon et al. managed to selectively deactivate Collier in just one muscle per body section in the larvae of fruit flies. This showed that the transcription factor is needed throughout muscle development; in particular, it is required for muscle fibres to select the correct attachment sites, and to be properly oriented. Affected muscles showed an altered orientation, with branched fibres attaching to the wrong site. Even minor changes, which only affect a single muscle from each body segment, greatly impaired the movement of the larvae. The work by Carayon et al. offers a new approach to the study of muscular conditions. Branched muscles are seen in severe human illnesses such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Studying the impact of these changes in a living animal could help to understand how this disease progress, and how it can be prevented. |
| Doi | 10.7554/eLife.57547 | Month | 07 |
