Expression Profile of Long Noncoding RNAs and Circular RNAs in mouse C3H10T1/2 mesenchymal stem cells undergoing myogenic and cardiomyogenic differentiation

Currently, a heterogeneous category of non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) that directly regulate the expression or function of protein-coding genes is shown to have an effect on the fate decision of stem cells. However, the detailed regulatory roles of ncRNAs in myogenic and cardiomyogenic differentiation of mouse C3H10T1/2 mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are far from clear. Methods: In this study, 5-azacytidine (5-AZA) treated C3H10T1/2 cells were differentiated into myocyte-like and cardiomyocyte-like cells. Next, ncRNA associated with myogenic and cardiomyogenic differentiation were identified using high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data. Bioinformatics analysis was conducted to identify the differentially expressed ncRNAs and the related signaling pathways. Results: Myotube-like structure was formed after 5-AZA treatment of C3H10T1/2 cells. In addition, myogenic and cardiomyogenic differentiation related genes like GATA4, cTnt, MyoD, and Desmin were up-regulated significantly after 5-AZA treatment. Totally, 1538 differentially expressed lncRNAs and 3398 differentially expressed mRNAs were identified, including 1175 up-regulated and 363 downregulated lncRNAs, 2429 up-regulated and 969 down-regulated mRNAs. In addition, 46 differentially expressed circRNAs were identified, including 25 up-regulated and 21 downregulated circRNAs. Moreover, the differentially expressed mRNAs were enriched into 5 significant pathways, including those for Focal adhesion, ECM-receptor interaction, PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, PPAR signaling pathway and Tyrosine metabolism. Conclusions: A systematic view of the expression of ncRNAs in myogenic and cardiomyogenic differentiation of MSCs was provided in the study. There were 5-Aza treatment and two groups of untreated, and two replicates were performed in each group.