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¹ Biology Division and
³ Section for Studies on Metastasis, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan
² Department of Cardiovascular Science and Medicine, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba 260-8677, Japan

Myo18B is an unconventional myosin family protein expressed predominantly in muscle cells. Although conventional myosins are known to be localized on the A-bands and function as a molecular motor for muscle contraction, Myo18B protein was localized on the Z-lines of myofibrils in striated muscles. Like Myo18A, another 18th class of myosin, the N-terminal unique domain of the protein and not the motor domain and the coiled-coil tail is critical for its localization to F-actin in myocytes. Myo18B expression was induced by myogenic differentiation through the binding of myocyte-specific enhancer factor-2 to its promoter. Deficiency of Myo18B caused an embryonic lethality in mice accompanied by disruption of myofibrillar structures in cardiac myocytes at embryonic day 10.5. Thus, Myo18B is a unique unconventional myosin that is predominantly expressed in myocytes and whose expression is essential for the development and/or maintenance of myofibrillar structure.

^aCurrent address: Cell and Developmental Biology Laboratory, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, NIH, MD 21702, USA.

^* Correspondence: jyokota{at}gan2.ncc.go.jp