Defining the skeletal myogenic lineage in human pluripotent stem cell-derived teratomas

Skeletal muscle stem cells are essential to muscle homeostasis and regeneration after injury. An attractive approach to obtain these cells is via differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). We have recently reported that teratomas derived from mouse PSCs are a rich source of skeletal muscle stem cells. Here, we showed that the teratoma formation method is also capable of producing skeletal myogenic progenitors from human PSCs. Using single-cell transcriptomics, we discovered multiple lineages in human PSC-derived teratomas. Interestingly, we observed several distinct skeletal myogenic subpopulations. Trajectory analysis revealed that these subpopulations represented progressive stages of skeletal myogenic development. We further discovered that ERBB3 and CD82 are effective surface markers for prospective isolation of the skeletal myogenic lineage in human PSC-derived teratomas. Therefore, teratoma formation provides an accessible model for obtaining human skeletal myogenic progenitors from PSCs. Overall design: Single-cell RNA seq of human embryonic stem cell-derived teratomas 8 weeks after injection into tibalis anterior of immunodeficient mouse