Wnt3a signal pathways activate MyoD expression by targeting cis-elements inside and outside its distal enhancer

The proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle stem cells are enhanced in a bioreactor

Skeletal muscle (SKM) is the largest organ in mammalian body and it can repair damages by using the residential myogenic stem cells (MuSC), but this repairing capacity reduces with age and in some genetic muscular dystrophy. Under these circumstances, artificial amplification of autologous MuSC in vitro might be necessary to repair the damaged SKM. The amplification of MuSC is highly dependent on myogenic signals, such as sonic hedgehog (Shh), Wnt3a, and fibroblast growth factors, so formulating an optimum myogenic kit composed of specific myogenic signals might increase the proliferation and differentiation of MuSC efficiently. In this study, various myogenic signals have been tested on C2C12 myoblasts and primary MuSC, and a myogenic kit consists of insulin, lithium chloride, T3, and retinoic acid has been formulated, and we found it significantly increased the fusion index and MHC expression level of both C2C12 and MuSC myotubes. A novel bioreactor providing cyclic stretching (CS) and electrical stimulation (ES) has been fabricated to enhance the myogenic differentiation of both C2C12 and MuSC. We further found that coating the bioreactor substratum with collagen gave the best effect on proliferation and differentiation of MuSC. Furthermore, combining the collagen coating and physical stimuli (CS + ES) in the bioreactor can generate more proliferative primary MuSC cells. Our results have demonstrated that the combination of myogenic kit and bioreactor can provide environment for efficient MuSC proliferation and differentiation. These MuSC and mature myotubes amplified in the bioreactor might be useful for clinical grafting into damaged SKM in the future.

LSD1 controls a nuclear checkpoint in Wnt/β-Catenin signaling to regulate muscle stem cell self-renewal

The Wnt/β-Catenin pathway plays a key role in cell fate determination during development and in adult tissue regeneration by stem cells. These processes involve profound gene expression and epigenome remodeling and linking Wnt/β-Catenin signaling to chromatin modifications has been a challenge over the past decades. Functional studies of the lysine demethylase LSD1/KDM1A converge to indicate that this epigenetic regulator is a key regulator of cell fate, although the extracellular cues controlling LSD1 action remain largely unknown. Here we show that β-Catenin is a substrate of LSD1. Demethylation by LSD1 prevents β-Catenin degradation thereby maintaining its nuclear levels. Consistently, in absence of LSD1, β-Catenin transcriptional activity is reduced in both MuSCs and ESCs. Moreover, inactivation of LSD1 in mouse muscle stem cells and embryonic stem cells shows that LSD1 promotes mitotic spindle orientation via β-Catenin protein stabilization. Altogether, by inscribing LSD1 and β-Catenin in the same molecular cascade linking extracellular factors to gene expression, our results provide a mechanistic explanation to the similarity of action of canonical Wnt/β-Catenin signaling and LSD1 on stem cell fate.

MyoD Over-Expression Rescues GST-bFGF Repressed Myogenesis

During embryogenesis, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is released from neural tube and myotome to promote myogenic fate in the somite, and is routinely used for the culture of adult skeletal muscle (SKM) stem cells (MuSC, called satellite cells). However, the mechanism employed by bFGF to promote SKM lineage and MuSC proliferation has not been analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the question of if the post-translational modification (PTM) of bFGF is important to its stemness-promoting effect has not been answered. In this study, GST-bFGF was expressed and purified from E.coli, which lacks the PTM system in eukaryotes. We found that both GST-bFGF and commercially available bFGF activated the Akt-Erk pathway and had strong cell proliferation effect on C2C12 myoblasts and MuSC. GST-bFGF reversibly compromised the myogenesis of C2C12 myoblasts and MuSC, and it increased the expression of Myf5, Pax3/7, and Cyclin D1 but strongly repressed that of MyoD, suggesting the maintenance of myogenic stemness amid repressed MyoD expression. The proliferation effect of GST-bFGF was conserved in C2C12 over-expressed with MyoD (C2C12-tTA-MyoD), implying its independence of the down-regulation of MyoD. In addition, the repressive effect of GST-bFGF on myogenic differentiation was almost totally rescued by the over-expression of MyoD. Together, these evidences suggest that (1) GST-bFGF and bFGF have similar effects on myogenic cell proliferation and differentiation, and (2) GST-bFGF can promote MuSC stemness and proliferation by differentially regulating MRFs and Pax3/7, (3) MyoD repression by GST-bFGF is reversible and independent of the proliferation effect, and (4) GST-bFGF can be a good substitute for bFGF in sustaining MuSC stemness and proliferation.

Post-transcriptional regulation of myogenic transcription factors during muscle development and pathogenesis

The transcriptional regulation of skeletal muscle (SKM) development (myogenesis) has been documented for over 3 decades and served as a paradigm for tissue-specific cell type determination and differentiation. Myogenic stem cells (MuSC) in embryos and adult SKM are regulated by the transcription factors Pax3 and Pax7 for their stem cell characteristics, while their lineage determination and terminal differentiation are both dictated by the myogenic regulatory factors (MRF) that comprise Mrf4, Myf5, Myogenin, and MyoD. The myocyte enhancer factor Mef2c is activated by MRF during terminal differentiation and collaborates with them to promote myoblast fusion and differentiation. Recent studies have found critical regulation of these myogenic transcription factors at mRNA level, including subcellular localization, stability, and translational regulation. Therefore, the regulation of Pax3/7, MRFs and Mef2c mRNAs by RNA-binding factors and non-coding RNAs (ncRNA), including microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA), will be the focus of this review and the impact of this regulation on myogenesis will be further addressed. Interestingly, the stem cell characteristics of MuSC has been found to be critically regulated by ncRNAs, implying the involvement of ncRNAs in SKM homeostasis and regeneration. Current studies have further identified that some ncRNAs are implicated in the etiology of some SKM diseases and can serve as valuable tools/indicators for prediction of prognosis. The roles of ncRNAs in the MuSC biology and SKM disease etiology will also be discussed in this review.

The Association of Methylation Status and Expression Level of MyoD1 with DNMT1 Expression Level in Breast Cancer Patients

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women worldwide. The methylation status of MyoD1, a tumor suppressor gene, is enrolled in various cancers, i.e., BC. Various studies showed the impact of MyoD1 epigenetic dysregulation in BC. This study aimed to investigate the methylation status and expression level of MyoD1 in BC patients and its association with the expression of DNMT1. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 30 cases (pathology-confirmed ductal carcinoma) and 18 controls (fibroadenoma and fibrocystic masses), referred to Velayat Hospital, Qazvin, Iran. The expression of the MyoD1 and DNMT1 and the promoter methylation of the MyoD1 were evaluated in tissue blocks of BC patient masses using qRT-PCR and MS-PCR assays, respectively. SPSS 24.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: The MyoD1 promoter is hypermethylated in BC patients compared to controls (p =0.001). The expression level of MyoD1 in BC patients was significantly reduced compared to controls (fold change =0.13, p =0.042). In addition, in BC patients, the reduced expression level of MyoD1 was significantly associated with methylation of the MyoD1 promoter (p =0.001). There is no significant difference between the expression level of DNMT1 in BC patients and controls (p =0.197). A significant association is found between the expression of DNMT1 and the methylation status of the MyoD1 promoter (p =0.038). Discussion: The expression level of MyoD1 is affected by the methylation status of the promoter of this gene. Moreover, the expression level and methylation status of MyoD1 are correlated with clinical parameters.

All-Trans Retinoic Acid-Responsive LGR6 Is Transiently Expressed during Myogenic Differentiation and Is Required for Myoblast Differentiation and Fusion

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) promotes myoblast differentiation into myotubes. Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 6 (LGR6) is a candidate ATRA-responsive gene; however, its role in skeletal muscles remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that during the differentiation of murine C2C12 myoblasts into myotubes, Lgr6 mRNA expression transiently increased before the increase in the expression of the mRNAs encoding myogenic regulatory factors, such as myogenin, myomaker, and myomerger. The loss of LGR6 decreased the differentiation and fusion indices. The exogenous expression of LGR6 up to 3 and 24 h after the induction of differentiation increased and decreased the mRNA levels of myogenin, myomaker, and myomerger, respectively. Lgr6 mRNA was transiently expressed after myogenic differentiation in the presence of a retinoic acid receptor α (RARα) agonist and an RARγ agonist in addition to ATRA, but not in the absence of ATRA. Furthermore, a proteasome inhibitor or Znfr3 knockdown increased exogenous LGR6 expression. The loss of LGR6 attenuated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling activity induced by Wnt3a alone or in combination with Wnt3a and R-spondin 2. These results indicate that LGR6 promotes myogenic differentiation and that ATRA is required for the transient expression of LGR6 during differentiation. Furthermore, LGR6 expression appeared to be downregulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome system involving ZNRF3.

SLIT3 promotes myogenic differentiation as a novel therapeutic factor against muscle loss

BACKGROUND

Sarcopenia and osteoporosis frequently co-occur in the elderly and have common pathophysiological determinants. Slit guidance ligand 3 (SLIT3) has been recently discovered as a novel therapeutic factor against osteoporosis, and a SLIT3 fragment containing the second leucine-rich repeat domain (LRRD2) had a therapeutic efficacy against osteoporosis. However, a role of SLIT3 in the skeletal muscle is unknown.

METHODS

Skeletal muscle mass, strength, and/or physical activity were evaluated in Slit3^-/- , ovariectomized, and aged mice, based on the measurements of muscle weight and grip strength, Kondziella's inverted hanging test, and/or wheel-running test. Skeletal muscles were also histologically evaluated by haematoxylin and eosin staining and/or immunofluorescence. The ovariectomized and aged mice were intravenously injected with recombinant SLIT3 LRRD2 for 4 weeks. C2C12 cells were used to know cellular effects of SLIT3, such as in vitro myogenesis, fusion, cell viability, and proliferation, and also used to evaluate its molecular mechanisms by immunocytochemistry, immunoprecipitation, western blotting, real-time PCR, siRNA transfection, and receptor-ligand binding ELISA.

RESULTS

Slit3-deficient mice exhibited decreased skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical activity. The relative masses of gastrocnemius and soleus were lower in the Slit3^-/- mice (0.580 ± 0.039% and 0.033 ± 0.003%, respectively) than those in the WT littermates (0.622 ± 0.043% and 0.038 ± 0.003%, respectively) (all, P < 0.05). Gastrocnemius of Slit3^-/- mice showed the reduced number of Type I and Type IIa fibres (all, P < 0.05), but not of Type IIb and Type IIx fibres. SLIT3 activated β-catenin signalling by promoting its release from M-cadherin, thereby increasing myogenin expression to stimulate myoblast differentiation. In vitro experiments involving ROBO2 expression, knockdown, and interaction with SLIT3 indicated that ROBO2 functions as a SLIT3 receptor to aid myoblast differentiation. SLIT3 LRRD2 dissociated M-cadherin-bound β-catenin and up-regulated myogenin expression to increase myoblast differentiation, in a manner similar to full-length SLIT3. Systemic treatment with SLIT3 LRRD2 increased skeletal muscle mass in both ovariectomized and aged mice (all, P < 0.05). The relative masses of gastrocnemius and soleus were higher in the treated aged mice (0.548 ± 0.045% and 0.033 ± 0.005%, respectively) than in the untreated aged mice (0.508 ± 0.016% and 0.028 ± 0.003%, respectively) (all, P < 0.05). SLIT3 LRRD2 treatment increased the hanging duration of the aged mice by approximately 1.7-fold (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

SLIT3 plays a sarcoprotective role by activating β-catenin signalling. SLIT3 LRRD2 can potentially be used as a therapeutic agent against muscle loss.

Genome-Wide Analysis of H3K27me3 in Porcine Embryonic Muscle Development

The trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) is one of the most important chromatin modifications, which is generally presented as a repressive mark in various biological processes. However, the dynamic and global-scale distribution of H3K27me3 during porcine embryonic muscle development remains unclear. Here, our study provided a comprehensive genome-wide view of H3K27me3 and analyzed the matching transcriptome in the skeletal muscles on days 33, 65, and 90 post-coitus from Duroc fetuses. Transcriptome analysis identified 4,124 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and revealed the key transcriptional properties in three stages. We found that the global H3K27me3 levels continually increased during embryonic development, and the H3K27me3 level was negatively correlated with gene expression. The loss of H3K27me3 in the promoter was associated with the transcriptional activation of 856 DEGs in various processes, including skeletal muscle development, calcium signaling, and multiple metabolic pathways. We also identified for the first time that H3K27me3 could enrich in the promoter of genes, such as DES, MYL1, TNNC1, and KLF5, to negatively regulate gene expression in porcine satellite cells (PSCs). The loss of H3K27me3 could promote muscle cell differentiation. Taken together, this study provided the first genome-wide landscape of H3K27me3 in porcine embryonic muscle development. It revealed the complex and broad function of H3K27me3 in the regulation of embryonic muscle development from skeletal muscle morphogenesis to myofiber maturation.

MEHP interferes with mitochondrial functions and homeostasis in skeletal muscle cells

Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a plasticizer frequently leached out from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products and is quickly metabolized to its monoester equivalent mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) once enters organisms. Exposure to DEHP/MEHP through food chain intake has been shown to modified metabolism but its effect on the development of metabolic myopathy of skeletal muscle (SKM) has not been revealed so far. Here, we found that MEHP repressed myogenic terminal differentiation of proliferating myoblasts (PMB) and confluent myoblasts (CMB) but had weak effect on this process once it had been initiated. The transition of mitochondria (MITO) morphology from high efficient filamentary network to low efficient vesicles was triggered by MEHP, implying its negative effects on MITO functions. The impaired MITO functions was further demonstrated by reduced MITO DNA (mtDNA) level and SDH enzyme activity as well as highly increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells after MEHP treatment. The expression of metabolic genes, including PDK4, CPT1b, UCP2, and HO1, was highly increased by MEHP and the promoters of PDK4 and CPT1b were also activated by MEHP. Additionally, the stability of some subunits in the oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS) complexes was found to be reduced by MEHP, implying defective oxidative metabolism in MITO and which was confirmed by repressed palmitic acid oxidation in MEHP-treated cells. Besides, MEHP also blocked insulin-induced glucose uptake. Taken together, our results suggest that MEHP is inhibitory to myogenesis and is harmful to MITO functions in SKM, so its exposure should be avoided or limited.

The cooperation of cis-elements during M-cadherin promoter activation

M-cadherin is a skeletal muscle-specific transmembrane protein mediating the cell-cell adhesion of myoblasts during myogenesis. It is expressed in the proliferating satellite cells and highly induced by myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs) during terminal myogenic differentiation. Several conserved cis-elements, including 5 E-boxes, 2 GC boxes, and 1 conserved downstream element (CDE) were identified in the M-cadherin proximal promoter. We found that E-box-3 and -4 close to the transcription initiation site (TIS) mediated most of its transactivation by MyoD, the strongest myogenic MRF. Including of any one of the other E-boxes restored the full activation by MyoD, suggesting an essential collaboration between E-boxes. Stronger activation of M-cadherin promoter than that of muscle creatine kinase (MCK) by MyoD was observed regardless of culture conditions and the presence of E47. Furthermore, MyoD/E47 heterodimer and MyoD ∼ E47 fusion protein achieved similar levels of activation in differentiation medium (DM), suggesting high affinity of MyoD/E47 to E-boxes 3/4 under DM. We also found that GC boxes and CDE positively affected MyoD mediated activation. The CDE element was predicted to be the target of the chromatin-modifying factor Meis1/Pbx1 heterodimer. Knockdown of Pbx1 significantly reduced the expression level of M-cadherin, but increased that of N-cadherin. Using ChIP assay, we further found significant reduction in MyoD recruitment to M-cadherin promoter when CDE was deleted. Taken together, these observations suggest that the chromatin-modifying function of Pbx1/Meis1 is critical to M-cadherin promoter activation before MyoD is recruited to E-boxes to trigger transcription.

JARID2 and the PRC2 complex regulate skeletal muscle differentiation through regulation of canonical Wnt signaling

Background

JARID2 is a non-catalytic member of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which is known to regulate developmental target genes in embryonic stem cells. Here, we provide mechanistic insight into the modulation of Wnt signaling by JARID2 during murine skeletal muscle differentiation.

Results

We show that JARID2 is expressed in proliferating myoblasts, but downregulated upon muscle differentiation. Unexpectedly, depletion of JARID2 or the catalytic subunit of the PRC2 complex, EZH2, inhibited differentiation, suggesting that JARID2 and the PRC2 complex are required to initiate this process. Expression of the myogenic regulatory factors required to promote differentiation, MYOD and MYOG, was downregulated in the absence of JARID2, even though decreases in the methylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27^me3) were observed on both promoters. We found that activation of the Wnt signaling pathway upregulated MYOD and restored differentiation. Activation of the Wnt pathway in JARID2 depleted cells caused β-catenin to translocate to the nucleus, where it bound to and activated the Myod1 promoter. We show that the Wnt antagonist SFRP1 is highly upregulated in the absence of JARID2 and is a direct target of JARID2 and the PRC2 complex. Ectopic expression of SFRP1 blocked MYOD and late muscle gene expression and inhibited the translocation of β-catenin to the nucleus. Finally, we show that JARID2 and SFRP1 are inversely correlated in melanoma, confirming that the JARID2-mediated repression of SFRP1 extends beyond skeletal muscle and has important implications in many cellular systems, including cancer.

Conclusions

We show that JARID2 and the PRC2 complex regulate muscle differentiation by modulating Wnt signaling through the direct repression of Wnt antagonists.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13072-018-0217-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BMP and FGF signaling interact to pattern mesoderm by controlling basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor activity

The mesodermal germ layer is patterned into mediolateral subtypes by signaling factors including BMP and FGF. How these pathways are integrated to induce specific mediolateral cell fates is not well understood. We used mesoderm derived from post-gastrulation neuromesodermal progenitors (NMPs), which undergo a binary mediolateral patterning decision, as a simplified model to understand how FGF acts together with BMP to impart mediolateral fate. Using zebrafish and mouse NMPs, we identify an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of BMP and FGF-mediated mediolateral mesodermal patterning that occurs through modulation of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor activity. BMP imparts lateral fate through induction of Id helix loop helix (HLH) proteins, which antagonize bHLH transcription factors, induced by FGF signaling, that specify medial fate. We extend our analysis of zebrafish development to show that bHLH activity is responsible for the mediolateral patterning of the entire mesodermal germ layer.

Myoblast Myogenic Differentiation but Not Fusion Process Is Inhibited via MyoD Tetraplex Interaction

The presence of tetraplex structures in the promoter region of the myogenic differentiation 1 gene (MyoD1) was investigated with a specific tetraplex-binding porphyrin (TMPyP4), to test its influence on the expression of MyoD1 itself and downstream-regulated genes during myogenic differentiation. TMPyP4-exposed C2C12 myoblasts, blocking MyoD1 transcription, proliferated reaching confluence and fused forming elongated structures, resembling myotubes, devoid of myosin heavy chain 3 (MHC) expression. Besides lack of MHC, upon MyoD1 inhibition, other myogenic gene expressions were also affected in treated cells, while untreated control cell culture showed normal myotube formation expressing MyoD1, Myog, MRF4, Myf5, and MHC. Unexpectedly, the myomaker (Mymk) gene expression was not affected upon TMPyP4 exposure during C2C12 myogenic differentiation. At the genomic level, the bioinformatic comparison of putative tetraplex sites found that three tetraplexes in MyoD1 and Myog are highly conserved in mammals, while Mymk and MHC did not show any conserved tetraplexes in the analysed regions. Thus, here, we report for the first time that the inhibition of the MyoD1 promoter function, stabilizing the tetraplex region, affects downstream myogenic genes by blocking their expression, while leaving the expression of Mymk unaltered. These results reveal the existence of two distinct pathways: one leading to cell fusion and one guaranteeing correct myotube differentiation.

Epigenetic Contribution of High-Mobility Group A Proteins to Stem Cell Properties

High-mobility group A (HMGA) proteins have been examined to understand their participation as structural epigenetic chromatin factors that confer stem-like properties to embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and cancer stem cells (CSCs). The function of HMGA was evaluated in conjunction with that of other epigenetic factors such as histones and microRNAs (miRs), taking into consideration the posttranscriptional modifications (PTMs) of histones (acetylation and methylation) and DNA methylation. HMGA proteins were coordinated or associated with histone and DNA modification and the expression of the factors related to pluripotency. CSCs showed remarkable differences compared with ESCs and iPSCs.

Arsenic inhibits stem cell differentiation by altering the interplay between the Wnt3a and Notch signaling pathways

data indicates that arsenic exposure inhibits stem cell differentiation. This study investigated whether arsenic disrupted the Wnt3a signaling pathway, critical in the formation of myotubes and neurons, during the differentiation in P19 mouse embryonic stem cells. Cells were exposed to 0, 0.1, or 0.5 μM arsenite, with or without exogenous Wnt3a, for up to 9 days of differentiation. Arsenic exposure alone inhibits the differentiation of stem cells into neurons and skeletal myotubes, and reduces the expression of both β-catenin and GSK3β mRNA to ~55% of control levels. Co-culture of the arsenic-exposed cells with exogenous Wnt3a rescues the morphological phenotype, but does not alter transcript, protein, or phosphorylation status of GSK3β or β-catenin. However, arsenic exposure maintains high levels of Hes5 and decreases the expression of MASH1 by 2.2-fold, which are anti- and pro-myogenic and neurogenic genes, respectively, in the Notch signaling pathway. While rescue with exogenous Wnt3a reduced Hes5 levels, MASH1 levels stay repressed. Thus, while Wnt3a can partially rescue the inhibition of differentiation from arsenic, it does so by also modulating Notch target genes rather than only working through the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. These results indicate that arsenic alters the interplay between multiple signaling pathways, leading to reduced stem cell differentiation.

Wnt/β-catenin controls follistatin signalling to regulate satellite cell myogenic potential

BACKGROUND

Adult skeletal muscle regeneration is a highly orchestrated process involving the activation and proliferation of satellite cells, an adult skeletal muscle stem cell. Activated satellite cells generate a transient amplifying progenitor pool of myoblasts that commit to differentiation and fuse into multinucleated myotubes. During regeneration, canonical Wnt signalling is activated and has been implicated in regulating myogenic lineage progression and terminal differentiation.

METHODS

Here, we have undertaken a gene expression analysis of committed satellite cell-derived myoblasts to examine their ability to respond to canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling.

RESULTS

We found that activation of canonical Wnt signalling induces follistatin expression in myoblasts and promotes myoblast fusion in a follistatin-dependent manner. In growth conditions, canonical Wnt/β-catenin signalling prime myoblasts for myogenic differentiation by stimulating myogenin and follistatin expression. We further found that myogenin binds elements in the follistatin promoter and thus acts downstream of myogenin during differentiation. Finally, ectopic activation of canonical Wnt signalling in vivo promoted premature differentiation during muscle regeneration following acute injury.

CONCLUSIONS

Together, these data reveal a novel mechanism by which myogenin mediates the canonical Wnt/β-catenin-dependent activation of follistatin and induction of the myogenic differentiation process.