Generation of Skeletal Muscle Organoids from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Various protocols have been proven effective in the directed differentiation of mouse and human pluripotent stem cells into skeletal muscles and used to study myogenesis. Current 2D myogenic differentiation protocols can mimic muscle development and its alteration under pathological conditions such as muscular dystrophies. 3D skeletal muscle differentiation approaches can, in addition, model the interaction between the various cell types within the developing organoid. Our protocol ensures the differentiation of human embryonic/induced pluripotent stem cells (hESC/hiPSC) into skeletal muscle organoids (SMO) via cells with paraxial mesoderm and neuromesodermal progenitors' identity and further production of organized structures of the neural plate margin and the dermomyotome. Continuous culturing omits neural lineage differentiation and promotes fetal myogenesis, including the maturation of fibroadipogenic progenitors and PAX7-positive myogenic progenitors. The PAX7 progenitors resemble the late fetal stages of human development and, based on single-cell transcriptomic profiling, cluster close to adult satellite cells of primary muscles. To overcome the limited availability of muscle biopsies from patients with muscular dystrophy during disease progression, we propose to use the SMO system, which delivers a stable population of skeletal muscle progenitors from patient-specific iPSCs to investigate human myogenesis in healthy and diseased conditions. Key features • Development of skeletal muscle organoid differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells, which recapitulates myogenesis. • Analysis of early embryonic and fetal myogenesis. • Provision of skeletal muscle progenitors for in vitro and in vivo analysis for up to 14 weeks of organoid culture. • In vitro myogenesis from patient-specific iPSCs allows to overcome the bottleneck of muscle biopsies of patients with pathological conditions.

CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing in LGMD2A/R1 Patient-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem and Skeletal Muscle Progenitor Cells.

Large numbers of Calpain 3 (CAPN3) mutations cause recessive forms of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD2A/LGMDR1) with selective atrophy of the proximal limb muscles. We have generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from a patient with two mutations in exon 3 and exon 4 at the calpain 3 locus (W130C, 550delA). Two different strategies to rescue these mutations are devised: (i) on the level of LGMD2A-iPSC, we combined CRISPR/Cas9 genome targeting with a FACS and Tet transactivator-based biallelic selection strategy, which resulted in a new functional chimeric exon 3-4 without the two CAPN3 mutations. (ii) On the level of LGMD2A-iPSC-derived CD82+/Pax7+ myogenic progenitor cells, we demonstrate CRISPR/Cas9 mediated rescue of the highly prevalent exon 4 CAPN3 mutation. The first strategy specifically provides isogenic LGMD2A corrected iPSC for disease modelling, and the second strategy can be further elaborated for potential translational approaches.

Human skeletal muscle organoids model fetal myogenesis and sustain uncommitted PAX7 myogenic progenitors.

In vitro culture systems that structurally model human myogenesis and promote PAX7+ myogenic progenitor maturation have not been established. Here we report that human skeletal muscle organoids can be differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cell lines to contain paraxial mesoderm and neuromesodermal progenitors and develop into organized structures reassembling neural plate border and dermomyotome. Culture conditions instigate neural lineage arrest and promote fetal hypaxial myogenesis toward limb axial anatomical identity, with generation of sustainable uncommitted PAX7 myogenic progenitors and fibroadipogenic (PDGFRa+) progenitor populations equivalent to those from the second trimester of human gestation. Single-cell comparison to human fetal and adult myogenic progenitor /satellite cells reveals distinct molecular signatures for non-dividing myogenic progenitors in activated (CD44High/CD98+/MYOD1+) and dormant (PAX7High/FBN1High/SPRY1High) states. Our approach provides a robust 3D in vitro developmental system for investigating muscle tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis.

Humans contains around 650 skeletal muscles which allow the body to move around and maintain its posture. Skeletal muscles are made up of individual cells that bundle together into highly organized structures. If this group of muscles fail to develop correctly in the embryo and/or fetus, this can lead to muscular disorders that can make it painful and difficult to move. One way to better understand how skeletal muscles are formed, and how this process can go wrong, is to grow them in the laboratory. This can be achieved using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), human adult cells that have been 'reprogrammed' to behave like cells in the embryo that can develop in to almost any cell in the body. The iPSCs can then be converted into specific cell types in the laboratory, including the cells that make up skeletal muscle. Here, Mavrommatis et al. created a protocol for developing iPSCs into three-dimensional organoids which resemble how cells of the skeletal muscle look and arrange themselves in the fetus. To form the skeletal muscle organoid, Mavrommatis et al. treated iPSCs that were growing in a three-dimensional environment with various factors that are found early on in development. This caused the iPSCs to organize themselves in to embryonic and fetal structures that will eventually give rise to the parts of the body that contain skeletal muscle, such as the limbs. Within the organoid were cells that produced Pax7, a protein commonly found in myogenic progenitors that specifically mature into skeletal muscle cells in the fetus. Pax 7 is also present in 'satellite cells' that help to regrow damaged skeletal muscle in adults. Indeed, Mavrommatis et al. found that the myogenic progenitors produced by the organoid were able to regenerate muscle when transplanted in to adult mice. These findings suggest that this organoid protocol can generate cells that will give rise to skeletal muscle. In the future, these lab-grown progenitors could potentially be created from cells isolated from patients and used to repair muscle injuries. The organoid model could also provide new insights in to how skeletal muscles develop in the fetus, and how genetic mutations linked with muscular disorders disrupt this process.

A balanced Oct4 interactome is crucial for maintaining pluripotency.

Oct4 collaborates primarily with other transcriptional factors or coregulators to maintain pluripotency. However, how Oct4 exerts its function is still unclear. Here, we show that the Oct4 linker interface mediates competing yet balanced Oct4 protein interactions that are crucial for maintaining pluripotency. Oct4 linker mutant embryonic stem cells (ESCs) show decreased expression of self-renewal genes and increased expression of differentiation genes, resulting in impaired ESC self-renewal and early embryonic development. The linker mutation interrupts the balanced Oct4 interactome. In mutant ESCs, the interaction between Oct4 and Klf5 is decreased. In contrast, interactions between Oct4 and Cbx1, Ctr9, and Cdc73 are increased, disrupting the epigenetic state of ESCs. Control of the expression level of Klf5, Cbx1, or Cdc73 rebalances the Oct4 interactome and rescues the pluripotency of linker mutant ESCs, indicating that such factors interact with Oct4 competitively. Thus, we provide previously unidentified molecular insights into how Oct4 maintains pluripotency.

Astrocyte pathology in a human neural stem cell model of frontotemporal dementia caused by mutant TAU protein.

Astroglial pathology is seen in various neurodegenerative diseases including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which can be caused by mutations in the gene encoding the microtubule-associated protein TAU (MAPT). Here, we applied a stem cell model of FTD to examine if FTD astrocytes carry an intrinsic propensity to degeneration and to determine if they can induce non-cell-autonomous effects in neighboring neurons. We utilized CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived neural progenitor cells (NPCs) to repair the FTD-associated N279K MAPT mutation. While astrocytic differentiation was not impaired in FTD NPCs derived from one patient carrying the N279K MAPT mutation, FTD astrocytes appeared larger, expressed increased levels of 4R-TAU isoforms, demonstrated increased vulnerability to oxidative stress and elevated protein ubiquitination and exhibited disease-associated changes in transcriptome profiles when compared to astrocytes derived from one control individual and to the isogenic control. Interestingly, co-culture experiments with FTD astrocytes revealed increased oxidative stress and robust changes in whole genome expression in previously healthy neurons. Our study highlights the utility of iPS cell-derived NPCs to elucidate the role of astrocytes in the pathogenesis of FTD.