| First Author | Guo H | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | Biochem Biophys Res Commun | Volume | 330 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 1132-7 |
| PubMed ID | 15823561 | Mgi Jnum | J:97432 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3575449 | Doi | 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.03.089 |
| Citation | Guo H, et al. (2005) Specific disruption of smooth muscle caldesmon expression in mice. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 330(4):1132-7 |
| abstractText | Caldesmon (CaD) is an actin-binding protein that is capable of inhibiting the actomyosin ATPase activity in vitro. CaD has a single gene that is alternatively spliced to generate the smooth muscle-specific form, h-CaD, and a shorter isoform, l-CaD, that is present only in non-muscle cells. The difference between h- and l-CaD is a highly charged repeating sequence, corresponding to a 35nm-long single helical region that separates the N-terminal domain from the C-terminal domain of h-CaD. To test whether such an elongated h-CaD is essential for smooth muscles to function properly, we have specifically abrogated its expression in the mouse by targeting h-CaD without affecting the expression of l-CaD. After genotyping, we have obtained homozygous knockout mice that indeed lack h-CaD, but nevertheless express varying amounts of l-CaD in a tissue-dependent fashion. The contractility of smooth muscles isolated from the knockout animals is currently under investigation. |
