Regulation of atrial and ventricular cardiomyocyte identity

Abstract

Establishment and maintenance of specialized CMs in the heart is critical for the proper cardiac structure and function. Conversely, loss or gain of their identities is associated with various heart diseases such as cardiac arrythmia and cardiomyopathy. CM identity is established during early heart development and continues to be maintained under normal physiological condition, and this is predominantly accomplished by gene regulation. Our understanding of potential genetic, epigenetic or posttranscriptional programs that regulate CM identity (e.g., atrial or ventricular CM identity) is still quite limited. To this end, we summarize current understandings on atrial and ventricular CM identity regulations and discuss potential future research directions to unveil the underlying regulatory mechanisms.