The regulation and function of the striated muscle activator of rho signalling (STARS) protein

Abstract

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Healthy living throughout the lifespan requires continual growth and repair of cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle. To effectively maintain these processes muscle cells detect extracellular stress signals and efficiently transmit them to activate appropriate intracellular transcriptional programs. The striated muscle activator of Rho signalling (STARS) protein, also known as Myocyte Stress-1 (MS1) protein and Actin-binding Rho-activating protein (ABRA) is highly enriched in cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscle. STARS binds actin, co-localizes to the sarcomere and is able to stabilize the actin cytoskeleton. By regulating actin polymerization, STARS also controls an intracellular signalling cascade that stimulates the serum response factor (SRF) transcriptional pathway; a pathway controlling genes involved in muscle cell proliferation, differentiation and growth. Understanding the activation, transcriptional control and biological roles of STARS in cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle, will improve our understanding of physiological and pathophysiological muscle development and function.

Keywords

• Exercise
• skeletal muscle
• Smooth muscle
• cardiac muscle
• sarcomere
• disuse