Functional Validation of ALDOA in Regulating Muscle Cell Fate: Based on In Vitro Proliferation, Apoptosis, and Differentiation Experiments

TL;DR

This study shows that the ALDOA gene controls muscle cell growth, death, and specialization, playing a key role in muscle development and repair.

Contribution

This study is the first to demonstrate ALDOA's dual role in regulating both metabolism and transcription in muscle cells.

Findings

ALDOA overexpression inhibits cell proliferation and induces G0/G1 phase arrest.

ALDOA promotes apoptosis in skeletal muscle cells.

ALDOA suppresses myogenic differentiation by downregulating key differentiation genes.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This study systematically investigated the expression characteristics of the ALDOA gene in skeletal muscle cells and its effects on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Methods: We constructed an ALDOA overexpression vector and transfected it into C2C12 cells and porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells. Results: We found that ALDOA exhibited the highest expression in the longissimus dorsi muscle and was primarily localized in the cell nucleus. Overexpression of ALDOA significantly inhibited cell proliferation, induced G0/G1 phase arrest, and downregulated the expression of proliferation-related genes such as CDK2 and Cyclin D1. Concurrently, ALDOA overexpression markedly promoted apoptosis. Regarding differentiation, although ALDOA expression was upregulated during differentiation, its overexpression significantly suppressed the expression of myogenic differentiation-related genes (such as MYOD, MYOG, MEF2C), suggesting a negative regulatory role in differentiation control. Conclusions: This study reveals the multifaceted regulatory functions of ALDOA in skeletal muscle cells, providing experimental evidence for deepening the understanding of its mechanisms in muscle development and regeneration. This study provides the first functional evidence that ALDOA acts as a multifunctional regulator in skeletal muscle cells, negatively governing cell growth and fate decisions by inhibiting proliferation, promoting apoptosis, and impeding myogenic differentiation, thereby extending its role beyond glycolysis to direct governance of cellular processes. This study reveals for the first time that ALDOA possesses dual functions in muscle cells, regulating both metabolism and transcription.

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