The Journal of Cell Biology · Aug 30, 2017

lncRNA Chronos is an aging-induced inhibitor of muscle hypertrophy

By Neppl RL, Wu CL, Walsh K

Skeletal muscle exhibits remarkable plasticity in its ability to modulate its mass in response to the physiologic changes associated with functional use, systemic disease, and aging. Although a gradual loss of muscle mass normally occurs with advancing age, its increasingly rapid progression results in sarcopenia in a subset of individuals. The identities of muscle-enriched, long noncoding RNAs that regulate this process are unknown. Here, we identify a long noncoding RNA, named Chronos, whose expression in muscle is positively regulated with advancing age and negatively regulated during Akt1-mediated growth. Inhibition of Chronos induces myofiber hypertrophy both in vitro and in vivo, in part, through the epigenetic modulation of Bmp7 signaling.

doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201612100Open accessPubMed 28855249Mechanisms