Transduction of MyoD protein into myoblasts induces myogenic differentiation without addition of protein transduction domain.

Protein transduction is a new technology with the potential for controlling cellular functions. Addition of tissue-specific transcription factors into cells could induce a specific differentiation pathway. In this paper, MyoD protein, a muscle-specific transcription factor, was introduced into the mouse myoblast cell line C2C12 to induce myogenic differentiation. Addition of fluorescently labeled MyoD protein revealed that MyoD can permeate the cell membrane without the addition of a protein transduction domain (PTD). Addition of MyoD protein induced formation of multi-nucleated myotubes. These results showed that MyoD protein has a PTD in its primary sequence and that myogenic differentiation can be induced by addition of MyoD protein.