407-5 Expression of a Mutation Causing Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Disrupts Sarcomere Assembly in Adult Feline Cardiac Myocytes

Mutations in the β myosin heavy chain (βMHC) gene cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease characterized by sudden death, cardiac hypertrophy and sarcomere disarray. To determine the primary defect, we sought to express a mutant βMHC gene in adult feline cardiac myocytes. The feline model was selected since HCM is a common disease in cats with a phenotype identical to that of man and the cardiac myosin is βMHC as in man in contrastto …