Identification of PAX7-induced transcriptional changes and PAX7 genomic binding during skeletal myogenic differentiation of H9 embryonic stem cells

Skeletal myogenic commitment of human pluripotent cells can be achieved by doxycycline-inducible expression of the transcription factor PAX7. To gain further insights on PAX7 function during this process, we performed a time course whole transcriptome analysis of differentiating H9 human embryonic stem cells from doxycycline-treated and untreated cultures. In addition, we identified the genomic binding of PAX7 in one of the selected time point (referred as PAX7+ proliferating myogenic progenitors). Gene expression profiling was performed on biological replicates from differentiating H9 cells at the following time points: PAX7+ mesodermal cells (day 14), PAX7+ proliferating myogenic progenitors (approximately day 23), and differentiated myocytes (differentiation stage – around day 30; 7 days in the absence of PAX7 induction). Since PAX7 expression is doxycycline inducible, we also collected uninduced control samples at the same time points (termed mesodermal cells for day 14 and proliferating cells for day 23). PAX7 genomic binding was assessed in day 23 dox-treated cultures.