During skeletal myogenesis, genomic reprogramming toward terminal differentiation is achieved by recruiting chromatinmodifying enzymes to muscle-specific loci 1,2 . The relative contribution of extracellular signaling cascades in targeting these enzymes to individual genes is unknown. Here we show that the differentiation-activated p38 pathway 3-5 targets the SWI-SNF chromatin-remodeling complex to myogenic loci. Upon differentiation, p38 kinases were recruited to the chromatin of muscle-regulatory elements. Blockade of p38α/β repressed the transcription of muscle genes by preventing recruitment of the SWI-SNF complex at these elements without affecting chromatin binding of muscle-regulatory factors and acetyltransferases. The SWI-SNF subunit BAF60 could be phosphorylated by p38α-β in vitro, and forced activation of p38α/β in myoblasts by expression of a constitutively active MKK6 (refs. 5-7) promoted unscheduled SWI-SNF recruitment to the myogenin promoter. Conversely, inactivation of SWI-SNF enzymatic subunits abrogated MKK6-dependent induction of muscle gene expression. These results identify an unexpected function of differentiation-activated p38 in converting external cues into chromatin modifications at discrete loci, by selectively targeting SWI-SNF to muscle-regulatory elements.

The progression of disease- and age-dependent skeletal muscle wasting results in part from a decline in the number and function of satellite cells, the direct cellular contributors to muscle repair1–10. However, little is known about the molecular effectors underlying satellite cell impairment and depletion. Elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), are associated with both age-related and muscle-wasting conditions11–13. The levels of STAT3, a downstream effector of IL-6, are also elevated with muscle wasting14,15, and STAT3 has been implicated in the regulation of self-renewal and stem cell fate in several tissues16–19. Here we show that IL-6–activated Stat3 signaling regulates satellite cell behavior, promoting myogenic lineage progression through myogenic differentiation 1 (Myod1) regulation. Conditional ablation of Stat3 in Pax7-expressing satellite cells resulted in their increased expansion during regeneration, but compromised myogenic differentiation prevented the contribution of these cells to regenerating myofibers. In contrast, transient Stat3 inhibition promoted satellite cell expansion and enhanced tissue repair in both aged and dystrophic muscle. The effects of STAT3 inhibition were conserved in human myoblasts. The results of this study indicate that pharmacological manipulation of STAT3 activity can be used to counteract the functional exhaustion of satellite cells, thereby maintaining the endogenous regenerative response and ameliorating muscle-wasting diseases.