The enhancer regions of the myogenic master regulator MyoD give rise to at least two enhancer RNAs. Core enhancer eRNA (eRNA) regulates transcription of the adjacent MyoD gene, whereas eRNA affects expression of Myogenin in trans. We found thateRNA is recruited at the Myogenin locus, where it colocalizes with Myogenin nascent transcripts. eRNA associates with the cohesin complex, and this association correlates with its transactivating properties. Despite being expressed in undifferentiated cells, cohesin is not loaded on Myogenin until the cells start expressingeRNA, which is then required for cohesin chromatin recruitment and maintenance. Functionally, depletion of either cohesin or eRNA reduces chromatin accessibility, prevents Myogenin activation, and hinders muscle cell differentiation. Thus,eRNA ensures spatially appropriate cohesin loading in trans to regulate gene expression.

Dedicated stem cells ensure post-natal growth, repair, and homeostasis of skeletal muscle. Following injury, muscle stem cells (MuSCs) exit from quiescence and divide to reconstitute the stem cell pool and give rise to muscle progenitors. The transcriptomes of pooled MuSCs have provided a rich source of information for describing the genetic programs of distinct static cell states; however, bulk microarray and RNA-seq provide only averaged gene expression profiles, blurring the heterogeneity and developmental dynamics of asynchronous MuSC populations. Instead, the granularity required to identify distinct cell types, states, and their dynamics can be afforded by single-cell analysis. We were able to compare the transcriptomes of thousands of MuSCs and primary myoblasts isolated from homeostatic or regenerating muscles by single-cell RNA- sequencing. Using computational approaches, we could reconstruct dynamic trajectories and place, in a pseudotemporal manner, the transcriptomes of individual MuSC within these trajectories. This approach allowed for the identification of distinct clusters of MuSCs and primary myoblasts with partially overlapping but distinct transcriptional signatures, as well as the description of metabolic pathways associated with defined MuSC states.

The nuclear envelope protein lamin A is encoded by the lamin A/C (LMNA) gene, which can contain missense mutations that cause Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) (p.R453W). We fused mutated forms of the lamin A protein to bacterial DNA adenine methyltransferase (Dam) to define euchromatic-heterochromatin (epigenomic) transitions at the nuclear envelope during myogenesis (using DamID-seq). Lamin A missense mutations disrupted appropriate formation of lamin A–associated heterochromatin domains in an allele-specific manner—findings that were confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation–DNA sequencing (ChIP-seq) in murine H2K cells and DNA methylation studies in fibroblasts from muscular dystrophy patient who carried a distinct LMNA mutation (p.H222P). Observed perturbations of the epigenomic transitions included exit from pluripotency and cell cycle programs [euchromatin (open, transcribed) to heterochromatin (closed, silent)], as well as induction of myogenic loci (heterochromatin to euchromatin). In muscle biopsies from patients with either a gain- or change-of-function LMNA gene mutation or a loss-of-function mutation in the emerin gene, both of which cause EDMD, we observed inappropriate loss of heterochromatin formation at the Sox2 pluripotency locus, which was associated with persistent mRNA expression of Sox2. Overexpression of Sox2 inhibited myogenic differentiation in human immortalized myoblasts. Our findings suggest that nuclear envelopathies are disorders of developmental epigenetic programming that result from altered formation of lamina-associated domains.

The transcriptional coregulator OCA-B promotes expression of T cell target genes in cases of repeated antigen exposure, a necessary feature of autoimmunity. We hypothesized that T cell–specific OCA-B deletion and pharmacologic OCA-B inhibition would protect mice from autoimmune diabetes. We developed an Ocab conditional allele and backcrossed it onto a diabetes-prone NOD/ShiLtJ strain background. T cell–specific OCA-B loss protected mice from spontaneous disease. Protection was associated with large reductions in islet CD8+ T cell receptor specificities associated with diabetes pathogenesis. CD4+ clones associated with diabetes were present but associated with anergic phenotypes. The protective effect of OCA-B loss was recapitulated using autoantigen-specific NY8.3 mice but diminished in monoclonal models specific to artificial or neoantigens. Rationally designed membrane-penetrating OCA-B peptide inhibitors normalized glucose levels and reduced T cell infiltration and proinflammatory cytokine expression in newly diabetic NOD mice. Together, the results indicate that OCA-B is a potent autoimmune regulator and a promising target for pharmacologic inhibition.