BAMBI shuttling between cytosol and membrane is required for skeletal muscle development and regeneration

BMP and activin receptor membrane bound inhibitor: BAMBI has multiple roles in gene expression and diseases (Review)

BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI) is a transmembrane glycoprotein, known as a pseudo-receptor for TGFβ, as, while its extracellular domain is similar to that of type I TGFβ receptors, its intracellular structure is shorter and lacks a serine/threonine phosphokinase signaling motif. BAMBI can regulate numerous biological phenomena, including glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammatory responses, and cell proliferation and differentiation. Furthermore, abnormal expression of BAMBI at the mRNA and protein levels contributes to various human pathologies, including obesity and cancer. In the present review, the structure of BAMBI is briefly introduced and its associated signaling pathways and physiological functions are described. Understanding of BAMBI structure and function may contribute to knowledge regarding the occurrence of diseases, including obesity and diabetes, among others. The present review provides a theoretical foundation for the development of BAMBI as a potential biomarker or therapeutic target.

BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor regulate connective tissue growth factor controlling mesothelioma cell proliferation

Background

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive mesothelial cell cancer type linked mainly to asbestos inhalation. MM characterizes by rapid progression and resistance to standard therapeutic modalities such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Our previous studies have suggested that tumor cell-derived connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) regulates the proliferation of MM cells as well as the tumor growth in mouse xenograft models.

Methods

In this study, we knock downed the bone morphogenetic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI) and CTGF in MM cells and investigated the relationship between both and their impact on the cell cycle and cell proliferation.

Results

The knockdown of CTGF or BAMBI reduced MM cell proliferation. In contrast to CTGF knockdown which decreased BAMBI, knockdown of BAMBI increased CTGF levels. Knockdown of either BAMBI or CTGF reduced expression of the cell cycle regulators; cyclin D3, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)2, and CDK4. Further, in silico analysis revealed that higher BAMBI expression was associated with shorter overall survival rates among MM patients.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that BAMBI is regulated by CTGF promoting mesothelioma growth by driving cell cycle progression. Therefore, the crosstalk between BAMBI and CTGF may be an effective therapeutic target for MM treatment.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-10080-x.

Functions of the bone morphogenetic protein signaling pathway through non-coding RNAs

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are proteins of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family, which plays an important role in the formation of skeletal and cartilage tissue and their regeneration. BMPs play a key role in the formation of new blood vessels and promote the migration, proliferation, and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into chondroblasts and osteoblasts. It is known that malfunction of BMPs signaling can cause a disease state. Epigenetic regulation of expression plays a key role in the control of many cellular processes. Important participants in this regulation are non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), which are RNA molecules that are not translated into proteins. The best known of these are microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs). In addition, the results of many studies make it possible to establish an unambiguous functional relationship between these ncRNAs. Being involved in the regulation of a large number of target genes responsible for the life of the cell, miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs are essential for the normal development and functioning of the body, and the violation of their functions accompanies the development of many pathophysiological processes including oncogenesis. In the present review, we discuss different insights into the regulation of BMPs signaling pathway by miRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs governed.

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Profile of Long Non-coding RNAs During Chicken Muscle Development

The developmental complexity of muscle arises from elaborate gene regulation. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in muscle development through the regulation of transcription and post-transcriptional gene expression. In chickens, previous studies have focused on the lncRNA profile during the embryonic periods, but there are no studies that explore the profile from the embryonic to post-hatching period. Here, we reconstructed 14,793 lncRNA transcripts and identified 2,858 differentially expressed lncRNA transcripts and 4,282 mRNAs from 12-day embryos (E12), 17-day embryos (E17), 1-day post-hatch chicks (D1), 14-day post-hatch chicks (D14), 56-day post-hatch chicks (D56), and 98-day post-hatch chicks (D98), based on our published RNA-seq datasets. We performed co-expression analysis for the differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs, using STEM, and identified two profiles with opposite expression trends: profile 4 with a downregulated pattern and profile 21 with an upregulated pattern. The cis- and trans-regulatory interactions between the lncRNAs and mRNAs were predicted within each profile. Functional analysis of the lncRNA targets showed that lncRNAs in profile 4 contributed to the cell proliferation process, while lncRNAs in profile 21 were mainly involved in metabolism. Our work highlights the lncRNA profiles involved in the development of chicken breast muscle and provides a foundation for further experiments on the role of lncRNAs in the regulation of muscle development.

Adipose-specific BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI) deletion promotes adipogenesis by accelerating ROS production

With the improvement of people's living standards, the number of obese patients has also grown rapidly. It is reported that the level of oxidative stress in obese patients has significantly increased, mainly caused by the increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in adipose tissue. Studies have shown that the use of siRNA to interfere with bone morphogenetic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI) expression could promote adipocyte differentiation, and under hypoxic conditions, BAMBI could act as a regulator of HIF1α to regulate the polarity damage of epithelial cells. In view of these results, we speculated that BAMBI may regulate adipogenesis by regulating the level of ROS. In this study, we generated adipose-specific BAMBI knockout mice (BAMBI AKO) and found that compared with control mice, BAMBI AKO mice showed obesity when fed with high-fat diet, accompanied by insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, hypercholesterolemia, and increased inflammation in adipose tissue. Interestingly, adipose-specific deficiency of BAMBI could cause an increase in the expression level of Nox4, thereby promoting ROS production in cytoplasm and mitochondria and the DNA-binding activity of C/EBPβ and ultimately promoting adipogenesis. Consistently, our findings indicated that BAMBI may be a reactive oxygen regulator to affect adipogenesis, thereby controlling obesity and metabolic syndrome.

The role of BAMBI in regulating adipogenesis and myogenesis and the association between its polymorphisms and growth traits in cattle

Bone morphogenic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI) is a transmembrane protein that affects the growth, development and muscle regeneration of the body by regulating the TGF-β, BMP and Wnt signaling pathways. Studies have found that BAMBI has important regulatory functions in skeletal muscle and preadipocytes in vivo and in vitro. However, research on this protein in cattle is lacking. In this study, to determine the role of BAMBI in the growth and development of cattle, we first found that the expression of BAMBI in adipose tissue and longissimus muscle of newborn and adult Qinchuan beef cattle was significantly different. Then we showed that BAMBI knockdown promoted the differentiation of bovine preadipocytes and suppressed myoblast myogenesis, as indicated by the increased lipid droplets and the decreased myotubes, as well as the corresponding significant changes in the expression of PPARγ, C/EBPα, C/EBPβ, FABP4, MyoD, MyoG and Myf6. Finally, to further verify the effect of BAMBI on the growth performance of cattle, we identified seven novel SNPs in the BAMBI genomic region, which were significantly correlated with one or more growth traits (p < 0.05). Furthermore, individuals with haplotype H1H4 (TC-GA-CT-CA-AT-AT-AG) had a higher body and carcass quality than those with other haplotypes (p < 0.05). In brief, BAMBI may be a functional gene for the differentiation of bovine preadipocytes and myoblasts, and variations in the BAMBI genomic region, especially the combined haplotype H1H4, may benefit marker-assisted selection in cattle.

Fecal microbiota as a noninvasive biomarker to predict the tissue iron accumulation in intestine epithelial cells and liver

Iron is an essential trace mineral required for growth, metabolism, and immune response. Dysregulation of iron homeostasis is linked with the development and progression of various diseases. Iron accumulation is associated with inflammatory diseases and cancer, while iron deficiency leads to the growth retardation. Several studies have suggested that iron imbalance results in alteration of gut microbiota, leading to the disruption of microbial diversity, the increase of pathogen abundance, and the induction of intestinal inflammation. However, in screening studies done in the past decades, the association between the iron availability and gut microbiota has not been systemically explored. Furthermore, a noninvasive and convenient approach to determine the iron levels in tissues is lacking. In the present study, a murine model for iron dysregulation was established. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and bioinformatic algorithms were used to identify the key taxa. Using the key taxa identified and machine learning models, we established an easily accessible prediction model, which could accurately distinguish between iron-deprived or iron-fortified condition. This prediction model could precisely predict the iron level of the intestinal epithelial cells and the liver and could be used for early diagnosis of iron dysbiosis-related diseases, in a noninvasive manner, in the future.