miR-206 enforces a slow muscle phenotype
Striated muscle is a highly specialized collection of tissues with contractile properties varying according to functional needs. Although muscle fiber types are established postnatally, lifelong plasticity facilitates stimulus-dependent adaptation. Functional adaptation requires molecular adaptation, partially provided by miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation. miR-206 is a muscle-specific miRNA enriched in slow muscles. We investigated whether miR-206 drives the slow muscle phenotype or is merely an outcome. We found that miR-206 expression increases in both physiologic (including female sex and endurance exercise) and pathologic conditions that promote a slow phenotype. Consistent with that observation, the slow soleus muscle of male miR-206 knockout mice displays a faster phenotype than wild-type mice. Moreover, their left ventricles have a faster myosin profile accompanied by male-specific dilation and systolic dysfunction. Thus, miR-206 appears necessary to enforce a slow skeletal and cardiac muscle phenotype and to play a key role in muscle sexual dimorphisms.