A KAP1 phosphorylation switch controls MyoD function during skeletal muscle differentiation (RNA-seq)

The transcriptional activator MyoD serves as a master controller of myogenesis. Often in partnership with Mef2, MyoD binds to the promoters of hundreds of muscle genes in proliferating myoblasts, yet activates these targets only upon receiving cues that launch differentiation. What regulates this off/on switch of MyoD function has been incompletely understood, although known to reflect the action of chromatin modifiers. Here, we identify KAP1/TRIM28 as a key regulator of MyoD function. In myoblasts, KAP1 is present with MyoD and Mef2 at many muscle genes, where it acts as a scaffold to recruit not only co-activators such as p300 and LSD1, but also co-repressors such as G9a and HDAC1, with promoter silencing as net outcome. Upon differentiation, MSK1-mediated phosphorylation of KAP1 releases the co-repressors from the scaffold, unleashing transcriptional activation by MyoD/Mef2 and their positive cofactors. Thus, our results reveal KAP1 as a previously unappreciated interpreter of cell signaling, which modulates the ability of MyoD to drive myogenesis. Overall design: Transcriptome profiling of control and Kap1KD in C2C12 during proliferation or at 48hours differentiation stage