Silencing of the Drosophila ortholog of SOX5 in heart leads to cardiac dysfunction as detected by optical coherence tomography

Airong Li, Osman O. Ahsen, Jonathan J. Liu, Chuang Du, Mary L. McKee, Yan Yang, Wilma Wasco, Christopher H. Newton-Cheh, Christopher J. O'Donnell, James G. Fujimoto, Chao Zhou, Rudolph E. Tanzi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

The SRY-relatedHMG-box 5 (SOX5) gene encodes amember of theSOXfamily of transcription factors. Recently, genome-wide association studies have implicated SOX5 as a candidate gene for susceptibility to four cardiacrelated endophenotypes: higher resting heart rate (HR), the electrocardiographic PR interval, atrial fibrillation and left ventricular mass. We have determined that human SOX5 has a highly conserved Drosophila ortholog, Sox102F, and have employed transgenic Drosophila models to quantitatively measure cardiac function in adult flies. For this purpose, we have developed a high-speed and ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography imaging system, which enables rapid cross-sectional imaging of the heart tube over various cardiac cycles for the measurement of cardiac structural and dynamical parameters such as HR, dimensions and areas of heart chambers, cardiac wall thickness and wall velocities. We have found that the silencing of Sox102Fresulted in a significant decrease inHR, heartchambersizeandcardiac wall velocities, anda significant increase in cardiac wall thickness that was accompanied by disrupted myofibril structure in adult flies. In addition, the silencing of Sox102F in the wing led to increased L2, L3 and wing marginal veins and increased and disorganized expression of wingless, the central component of the Wnt signaling pathway. Collectively, the silencing of Sox102F resulted in severe cardiac dysfunction and structural defects with disrupted Wnt signaling transduction in flies. This implicates an important functional role for SOX5 in heart and suggests that the alterations in SOX5 levels may contribute to the pathogenesis of multiple cardiac diseases or traits.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberddt230
Pages (from-to)3798-3806
Number of pages9
JournalHuman molecular genetics
Volume22
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2013

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