Department of Biochemistry

Muscle in culture has provided a powerful system to examine many aspects of cell and molecular biology. One of the first tissues to be differentiated in culture, muscle has provided insight into gene regulation, cytoskeletal organization and function, signal transduction, and tissue integration. Our own studies initially focussed on muscle as a model for the organization of the cytoskeleton and the role that the localization of mRNA in assembly of cytoskeletal proteins. Those studies revealed submicron precision of mRNA position in muscle cells, which was itself under developmental control, message specific and modulated over time.