RNA helicase, DDX27 regulates skeletal muscle growth and regeneration by modulation of translational processes The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Bennett, A. H., M. O’Donohue, S. R. Gundry, A. T. Chan, J. Widrick, I. Draper, A. Chakraborty, et al. 2018. “RNA helicase, DDX27 regulates skeletal muscle growth and regeneration by modulation of translational processes.” PLoS Genetics 14 (3): e1007226. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1007226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pgen.1007226. Published Version doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1007226 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:35982208 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA RESEARCH ARTICLE RNA helicase, DDX27 regulates skeletal muscle growth and regeneration by modulation of translational processes Alexis H. Bennett1, Marie-Francoise O'Donohue2, Stacey R. Gundry3, Aye T. Chan4, Jeffrey Widrick3, Isabelle Draper5, Anirban Chakraborty2,6, Yi Zhou4, Leonard I. Zon4,7, Pierre-Emmanuel Gleizes2, Alan H. Beggs3, Vandana A. Gupta1,3* 1 Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 2 Laboratoire de Biologie MoleÂculaire Eucaryote, Centre de Biologie InteÂgrative a1111111111 (CBI), Universite de Toulouse, UPS, CNRS, France, 3 Division of Genetics and Genomics, The Manton a1111111111 Center for Orphan Disease Research, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, a1111111111 Massachusetts, United States of America, 4 Stem Cell Program and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston a1111111111 Children's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard Medical School, a1111111111 Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 5 Molecular Cardiology Research Institute, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 6 Division of Molecular Genetics and Cancer, NU Centre for Science Education and Research, Nitte University, Mangalore, India, 7 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America * [email protected] OPEN ACCESS Citation: Bennett AH, O'Donohue M-F, Gundry SR, Chan AT, Widrick J, Draper I, et al. (2018) RNA Abstract helicase, DDX27 regulates skeletal muscle growth and regeneration by modulation of translational Gene expression in a tissue-specific context depends on the combined efforts of epigenetic, processes. PLoS Genet 14(3): e1007226. https:// transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes that lead to the production of specific pro- doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007226 teins that are important determinants of cellular identity. Ribosomes are a central compo- Editor: Gregory A. Cox, The Jackson Laboratory, nent of the protein biosynthesis machinery in cells; however, their regulatory roles in the UNITED STATES translational control of gene expression in skeletal muscle remain to be defined. In a genetic Received: March 31, 2017 screen to identify critical regulators of myogenesis, we identified a DEAD-Box RNA helicase, Accepted: January 26, 2018 DDX27, that is required for skeletal muscle growth and regeneration. We demonstrate that Published: March 8, 2018 DDX27 regulates ribosomal RNA (rRNA) maturation, and thereby the ribosome biogenesis Copyright: © 2018 Bennett et al. This is an open and the translation of specific transcripts during myogenesis. These findings provide insight access article distributed under the terms of the into the translational regulation of gene expression in myogenesis and suggest novel func- Creative Commons Attribution License, which tions for ribosomes in regulating gene expression in skeletal muscles. permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: The raw RNA sequencing data are available from the GEO Author summary database (GSE100822). All other data are available Inherited skeletal muscle diseases are the most common form of genetic disorders with within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. primary abnormalities in the structure and function of skeletal muscle resulting in the impaired locomotion in affected patients. A major hindrance to the development of effec- Funding: VAG is supported by K01 AR062601 tive therapies is a lack of understanding of biological processes that promote skeletal mus- from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of National cle growth. By performing a forward genetic screen in zebrafish we have identified Institute of Health. This work was supported by the mutation in a RNA helicase that leads to perturbations of ribosomal biogenesis pathway Eleanor and Miles Shore Fellowship for Scholars in and impairs skeletal muscle growth and regeneration. Therefore, our studies have Medicine and Brigham and Women's Hospital PLOS Genetics | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007226 March 8, 2018 1 / 25 Translational regulation of myogenesis by DDX27 Career development award (VAG), a Charles H Hood Foundation Child Health Research Grant identified novel ribosome-based disease processes that may be therapeutic modulated to (VAG), Muscular Dystrophy Association of USA restore muscle function in skeletal muscle diseases. grant (MDA383249, AHB), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD075802, AHB), National Institutes of Health grants from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases R01 Introduction (AR044345, AHB), National Heart, Lung and Blood Ribosome biogenesis is fundamental to all life forms and is the primary determinant of transla- Institute (U01 HL100001, LIZ) and Office of the Director (R24 OD017870, LIZ). PEG and M-FO are tional capacity of the cell. Ribosome biogenesis is a complex process that involves transcrip- supported by the CNRS, the University of tion, modification and processing of ribosomal RNA, production of ribosomal proteins and Toulouse-Paul Sabatier and a grant of the Agence auxiliary factors and coordinated assembly of ribonucleoprotein complexes to produce func- Nationale de la Recherche (ANR15-CE12-0001-02). tional ribosomes [1]. While previously considered a ªhouse keepingº constitutive process, The funders had no role in study design, data recent studies have shown that ribosome biogenesis is regulated differently between cells and collection and analysis, decision to publish, or can be modulated in a cell type-specific manner [2]. These differences are required to generate preparation of the manuscript. ribosomes of different heterogeneities and functionalities that contribute to the translational Competing interests: The authors have declared control of gene regulation by selecting mRNA subsets to be translated under specific growth that no competing interests exist. conditions potentially by identifying specific recognition elements in the mRNA [3±5]. Protein synthesis is the end stage of the gene regulation hierarchy and despite the identification of translational regulators of specific genes, a systematic identification of translational regulatory processes critical for tissue specific control of gene expression is still lacking. Moreover, upstream regulatory factors/processes that regulate ribosome heterogeneity in a cellular and organ-specific context in vertebrates still remains to be identified. Skeletal muscle is a contractile, post-mitotic tissue that accounts for 30±50% of body mass. Skeletal muscle growth and repair is a highly coordinated process that is dependent on the proliferative expansion and differentiation of muscle stem cells that originate from the muscle precursor cells at the end of embryogenesis [6±8]. Activated muscle stem cells through sym- metric/ asymmetric divisions give rise to daughter cells that maintain the muscle stem cell pop- ulation (satellite cells) and committed myogenic progenitor cells (MPC) that fuse to form the differentiated skeletal muscle [6, 9, 10]. Defects in processes regulating muscle stem cells, myo- blast fusion and differentiation therefore, constitute pathological pathways affecting the muscle growth and regeneration [11±17]. Although epigenetic and transcriptional controls of myo- genesis have been studied extensively, the importance of translational regulation of these pro- cesses in skeletal muscle function is less defined. Transcriptional and translational analysis of myoblasts has shown that differential mRNA translation controls protein expression of specific subset of genes during myogenesis. Recent studies have revealed ribosomal changes during skeletal muscle growth and atrophy. An increase in ribosome biogenesis is often observed dur- ing skeletal muscle hypertrophy [18, 19]. Ribosomal perturbations on the other hand are asso- ciated with skeletal muscle growth and diseases [20±23]. Deletion of ribosomal protein genes S6k1 and Rps6 in mice results in smaller myofibers and reduced muscle function. In several muscular dystrophy models and atrophied muscles, a reduction in ribosome number and/or activity is observed [22, 24, 25]. In spite of these dynamic changes observed in ribosomes dur- ing different growth conditions, our understanding of the mechanism(s) that regulate ribo- somal biogenesis in