Decoding the transcriptome of muscular dystrophy using single-nucleus RNA sequencing

Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles that control movement. Lacking polymerase I transcription release factor (PTRF, also known as Cavin1), an essential caveolae component, causes a secondary deficiency of caveolins resulting in muscular dystrophy. Because skeletal muscle is a heterogeneous tissue composed of different metabolic muscle fiber (myofibers) and mononuclear cells, the transcriptome responses of these myofibers and mononuclear cell to muscular dystrophy caused by PTRF deletion has not been explored. Here, we create muscular dystrophy mice caused by the deletion of PTRF gene and apply single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) to unveil transcriptional changes in the skeletal muscle of mice with muscular dystrophy at single-nucleus resolution. We analyzed quadriceps muscles from 3-month-old WT and PTRF KO mice using single-nucleus sequencing.