The untold story between enhancers and skeletal muscle development

Abstract

Currently, enhancers have key transcriptional regulatory roles in muscle development. Skeletal muscle formation involves various molecules, and in animals, enhancers are one of the main types of transcriptional regulatory regions that are of great importance to regulate myogenic gene expression. In muscle development, enhancers can generate enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) that are involved in the regulation of gene transcription. The regulation of gene expression by eRNAs offers great potential in improving animal production traits. Herein we comprehensively review the roles of enhancers in muscle formation and its potential function in skeletal muscle development. This review will describe the future application of enhancers in skeletal muscle development and discuss the prospects that enhancer studies offer for agriculture, biotechnology, and animal breeding.

Keywords

• animal
• enhancer
• eRNA
• skeletal muscle
• growth and development