Myoblast differentiation is associated with and benefits from increased autophagy

The goal of this study was to identify potentially novel mechanisms that mediate myoblast differentiation using the C2C12 cell as a myoblast model. The study started with an RNA-seq analysis to identify genes differentially expressed during myoblast differentiation. This analysis and subsequent functional analysis resulted in the identification of autophagy as one of the upregulated biological processes in differentiating myoblasts. RNA-seq libraries were prepared from 5 samples of undifferentiated C2C12 cells and 5 samples of differentiating C2C12 cells. RNA-seq libraries were sequenced and sequencing reads mapped and analyzed.

本研究旨在以C2C12细胞作为成肌细胞模型，筛选介导成肌细胞分化的潜在全新机制。本研究首先通过RNA测序（RNA-seq）分析，筛选成肌细胞分化过程中的差异表达基因。该分析结合后续功能分析，最终确认自噬（autophagy）是分化期成肌细胞中上调的生物学过程之一。研究分别收集5份未分化C2C12细胞样本与5份分化期C2C12细胞样本，制备RNA-seq文库。随后对构建完成的RNA-seq文库进行测序，并对测序读段进行比对与分析。