Long noncoding RNA SAM promotes myoblast proliferation and skeletal muscle regeneration through stabilizing Sugt1 and facilitating kinetochore assembly

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are novel family of gene regulators but the study of lncRNAs in satellite cell lineage progression is still at the infancy stage. Here we identified a novel lncRNA, SAM (Sugt1 associated muscle lncRNA) that was enriched in the proliferation myoblast cells but decreased as the cells progress to differentiation. Gain- or loss- of function of SAM in muscle satellite cells altered myogenic proliferation and differentiation. The above phenotypical changes in cells were also substantiated when RNAseq was performed to assess transcriptomic changes caused by SAM loss. Gene Ontology (GO) cluster analysis of up- or down-regulated genes is in line with the pro-proliferative function of SAM and the precocious differentiation upon SAM loss. siRNA targeting SAM (siSAM) or negative control (siNC) treated myoblasts were subjected to transcriptome analysis by RNA-seq