Molecular motors and nuclear movements in muscle

Abstract

Muscle fibers have the particularity of containing numerous nuclei evenly distributed and positioned next to the plasma membrane. This unique disposition is the result of sequential events of nuclear movements that start when myoblasts fuse together and end with the clustering of few nuclei under the neuromuscular junction. Nuclei are mispositioned in multiple muscle disorders therefore the mechanisms of nuclear positioning can be novel targets for muscle disorders therapies. The 2 first nuclear movements that occur upon myoblast fusion require different microtubule motors. We performed a siRNA screen against all the microtubules motors and quantified nuclei behavior after fusion and inside the myotube. The different motors we found to be involved in the nuclear behaviors and the analysis of motors expression suggest a competition between both movement mechanisms, which potentially relies on the discrepancy between myoblast and myotube microtubules stability.

Keywords

• cell polarity
• cytoskeleton
• differentiation
• microtubule
• molecular motors
• motor
• muscle
• nuclear movement