Activity-dependent muscle plasticity represents a unique model to investigate the regulatory machinery underlying phenotypic adaptations in a fully differentiated tissue. The biochemical evidence supports that mechanical and metabolic perturbations relay to the specific cellular processes being activated by the complex stimulus of exercise.

The presentation will address our recent animal work testing the hypothesis that the activation of mechanical and hypoxic signalling constitutes a master switch for remodelling of frequently recruited muscle. This approach comprises a system biological setup involving the modulation of mechanical and hypoxia signals via physiological interventions and somatic transgenesis of single molecular sensors and the downstream monitoring of transcriptional, structural and functional consequences. These results support the view that hypoxia- inducible factor-1alpha and focal adhesion kinase separately control muscle plasticity by coordinating expression of metabolic and anabolic pathways.