Muscle Hypertrophy

One of the goals of our lab is to identify molecules that are important for maintaining muscle mass and strength. In this paper we identify LMCD1 as an important regulator of muscle size. LMCD1 boosts muscle protein synthesis and optimizes calcium usage to increase both muscle mass and strength.

How do our muscle grow bigger when we perform resistance exercise (for example, lifting weights)? Why don’t they grow as big if we instead perform endurance exercise (like running)? In this study we found that depending on what kind of exercise you perform, muscle cells read (transcribe) the PGC-1α gene in a different way (alternative splicing again!). Endurance training produces a PGC-1α protein variant that makes muscle more energy efficient, whereas resistance training favours another variant linked to muscle growth and strength. Finding ways to selectively increase these PGC-1α variants could help patients with, for example, muscle weakness

The answer might be hidden in what we call The Dark Side of the genome.