RNAi screening identifies potential regulators of myoblast differentiation.

RNAi-based functional screening of 134 mouse cytokine genes revealed 29 candidate regulators of myoblast differentiation, of which 6 are potentially positive regulators, and 23 negative regulators. They are further divided into 4 classes based on knockdown phenotypes. Class I: decrease in all myotube parameters. Class II: decrease in fusion index and average myonuclei number, with unchanged differentiation index. Class III: increase in all myotube parameters. Class IV: increase in differentiation and fusion indexes, with unchanged average myonuclei number. Those highlighted (bold, italic) are examples with data shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Data for all the genes listed here are shown in Table S3.