The muscle LIM protein (MLP) is a muscle-specific LIM-only factor that
exhibits a dual subcellular localization, being present in both the n
ucleus and in the cytoplasm, Overexpression of MLP in C2C12 myoblasts
enhances skeletal myogenesis, whereas inhibition of MLP activity block
s terminal differentiation. Thus, MLP functions as a positive developm
ental regulator, although the mechanism through which MLP promotes ter
minal differentiation events remains unknown. While examining the dist
inct roles associated with the nuclear and cytoplasmic forms of MLP, w
e found that nuclear MLP functions through a physical interaction with
the muscle basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors MyoD,
MRF4, and myogenin, This interaction is highly specific since MLP does
not associate with nonmuscle bHLH proteins E12 or E47 or with the myo
cyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2) protein, which acts cooperatively with t
he myogenic bHLH proteins to promote myogenesis, The first LIM motif i
n MLP and the highly conserved bHLH region of MyoD are responsible for
mediating the association between these muscle-specific factors. MLP
also interacts with MyoD-E47 heterodimers, leading to an increase in t
he DNA-binding activity associated with this active bHLH complex. Alth
ough MLP lacks a functional transcription activation domain, we propos
e that it serves as a cofactor for the myogenic bHLH proteins by incre
asing their interaction with specific DNA regulatory elements, Thus, t
he functional complex of MLP-MyoD-E protein reveals a novel mechanism
for both initiating and maintaining the myogenic program and suggests
a global strategy for how LIM-only proteins may control a variety of d
evelopmental pathways.