Myelin regulatory factor

Myelin regulatory factor (MyRF), also known as myelin gene regulatory factor (MRF), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MYRF gene.

MYRF
Identifiers
Aliases	MYRF, C11orf9, MRF, Ndt80, pqn-47, myelin regulatory factor, 11orf9, MMERV, CUGS
External IDs	OMIM: 608329 MGI: 2684944 HomoloGene: 32167 GeneCards: MYRF
Gene location (Human) Chr. Chromosome 11 (human)[1] Band 11q12.2 Start 61,752,642 bp[1] End 61,788,518 bp[1]
Gene location (Mouse) Chr. Chromosome 19 (mouse)[2] Band 19|19 A Start 10,208,272 bp[2] End 10,240,748 bp[2]
Gene ontology Molecular function • peptidase activity • hydrolase activity • DNA binding • GO:0001131, GO:0001151, GO:0001130, GO:0001204 DNA-binding transcription factor activity • identical protein binding • GO:0001200, GO:0001133, GO:0001201 DNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific • sequence-specific DNA binding Cellular component • endoplasmic reticulum membrane • cell nucleus • membrane • cytoplasm • integral component of membrane • endoplasmic reticulum • nucleoplasm • Golgi apparatus • cytosol Biological process • positive regulation of myelination • oligodendrocyte differentiation • regulation of transcription, DNA-templated • proteolysis • central nervous system myelination • central nervous system myelin maintenance • cell differentiation • positive regulation of transcription, DNA-templated • transcription, DNA-templated • oligodendrocyte development • regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter • protein autoprocessing Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs
Species	Human	Mouse
Entrez	745	225908
Ensembl	ENSG00000124920	ENSMUSG00000036098
UniProt	Q9Y2G1	Q3UR85
RefSeq (mRNA)	NM_001127392 NM_013279	NM_001033481
RefSeq (protein)	NP_001120864 NP_037411	NP_001028653
Location (UCSC)	Chr 11: 61.75 – 61.79 Mb	Chr 19: 10.21 – 10.24 Mb
PubMed search	[3]	[4]
Wikidata
View/Edit Human View/Edit Mouse

Myelin regulatory factor
Identifiers
Symbol	MYRF
InterPro	IPR026933
Membranome	237

Orthologs

Myelin regulatory factor is encoded by the Myrf/GM98 gene in mice and by the MYRF gene in humans.[5] The family of MyRF-like-proteins also contains the orthologues pqn-47 from C. elegans and MYRFA from Dictyostelium.[6] All orthologs have a DNA-binding domain of high homology to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein Ndt80 (a p53-like transcription factor) and therefore likely act as a transcription factor.

Function

MyRF is a transcription factor that promotes the expression of many genes important in the production of myelin.[7] It is therefore of critical importance in the development and maintenance of myelin sheaths.[8]

The expression of MYRF is specific to mature, myelinating oligodendrocytes in the CNS.[9][10] It has been shown to be critical for the maintenance of myelin by these cells. Following ablation of MYRF the expression of myelin genes such as PLP1, MBP, MAG and MOG drops rapidly.[8] Therefore, MYRF is a key regulator and likely a direct activator of the expression of these genes.[7]

Animal models

Mice that lose MYRF during adulthood present with a severe demyelination similar to that seen in animal models of multiple sclerosis. This underlines the importance of an active renewal of proteins in the myelin sheath. Further, the activity of MYRF increases during remyelination, suggesting it has a critical role in this process.[8] Animals with repressed Myrf in a proportion of oligodendrocyte precursor cells showed a delayed functional recovery from spinal cord injury.[11]

Myrf has been shown to be significantly downregulated in a mouse model carrying the same mutation in the NPC1 protein that is underlying Niemann-Pick type C1 disease, a neurodegenerative process in which dysmyelination is a main pathogenic factor. A perturbation of oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination therefore might be an underlying reason for the neurological deficits.[12]

References

1. GRCh38: Ensembl release 89: ENSG00000124920 - Ensembl, May 2017
2. GRCm38: Ensembl release 89: ENSMUSG00000036098 - Ensembl, May 2017
3. "Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
4. "Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
5. "MYRF". Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) Consortium. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
6. Senoo H, Wang HY, Araki T, Williams JG, Fukuzawa M (2012). "An orthologue of the Myelin-gene Regulatory Transcription Factor regulates Dictyostelium prestalk differentiation". Int. J. Dev. Biol. 56 (5): 325–32. doi:10.1387/ijdb.120030jw. PMC 3586673. PMID 22811266.
7. Bujalka H, Koenning M, Jackson S, Perreau VM, Pope B, Hay CM, Mitew S, Hill AF, Lu QR, Wegner M, Srinivasan R, Svaren J, Willingham M, Barres BA, Emery B (September 2013). "MYRF Is a Membrane-Associated Transcription Factor That Autoproteolytically Cleaves to Directly Activate Myelin Genes". PLOS Biol. 11 (8): e1001625. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001625. PMC 3742440. PMID 23966833.
8. Koenning M, Jackson S, Hay CM, Faux C, Kilpatrick TJ, Willingham M, Emery B (September 2012). "Myelin gene regulatory factor is required for maintenance of myelin and mature oligodendrocyte identity in the adult CNS". J. Neurosci. 32 (36): 12528–42. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1069-12.2012. PMC 3752083. PMID 22956843.
9. Emery B, Agalliu D, Cahoy JD, Watkins TA, Dugas JC, Mulinyawe SB, Ibrahim A, Ligon KL, Rowitch DH, Barres BA (July 2009). "Myelin gene regulatory factor is a critical transcriptional regulator required for CNS myelination". Cell. 138 (1): 172–85. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.04.031. PMC 2757090. PMID 19596243.
10. Cahoy JD, Emery B, Kaushal A, Foo LC, Zamanian JL, Christopherson KS, Xing Y, Lubischer JL, Krieg PA, Krupenko SA, Thompson WJ, Barres BA (January 2008). "A transcriptome database for astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes: a new resource for understanding brain development and function". J. Neurosci. 28 (1): 264–78. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4178-07.2008. PMC 6671143. PMID 18171944.
11. Duncan GJ, Plemel JR, Hilton BJ, Liu J, Kramer JK, Kim J, Mao S, Tetzlaff W (October 2012). Myelin gene regulatory factor knockout delays functional recovery from spinal cord injury. Neuroscience 2012. pp. S60.
12. Yan X, Lukas J, Witt M, Wree A, Hübner R, Frech M, Köhling R, Rolfs A, Luo J (December 2011). "Decreased expression of myelin gene regulatory factor in Niemann-Pick type C 1 mouse". Metab Brain Dis. 26 (4): 299–306. doi:10.1007/s11011-011-9263-9. PMID 21938520. S2CID 26878522.