Somatic cell fusion is an essential component of skeletal muscle development and growth and repair from injury. Additional cell types such as trophoblasts and osteoclasts also require somatic cell fusion events to perform their physiological functions. Currently we have rudimentary knowledge on molecular mechanisms regulating somatic cell fusion events in mammals. We therefore investigated during in vitro murine myogenesis a mammalian homolog, Kirrel, of the Drosophila Melanogaster genes Roughest (Rst) and Kin of Irre (Kirre) which regulate somatic muscle cell fusion during embryonic development. Our results demonstrate the presence of a novel murine Kirrel isoform containing a truncated cytoplasmic domain which we term Kirrel B. Protein expression levels of Kirrel B are inverse to the occurrence of cell fusion events during in vitro myogenesis which is in stark contrast to the expression profile of Rst and Kirre during myogenesis in Drosophila. Furthermore, chemical inhibition of cell fusion confirmed the inverse expression pattern of Kirrel B protein levels in relation to cell fusion events. The discovery of a novel Kirrel B protein isoform during myogenesis highlights the need for more thorough investigation of the similarities and potential differences between fly and mammals with regards to the muscle cell fusion process.
Keywords: Cell fusion; Kirrel; drosophila; myogenesis.