The myopathic transcription factor DUX4 induces the production of truncated RNA-binding proteins in human muscle cells

DUX4 is an embryonic transcription factor whose misexpression in skeletal muscle causes facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). DUX4 induces the transcription of thousands of RNAs and dysregulates multiple pathways that could contribute to FSHD pathophysiology. However, lack of temporal data and the knowledge of which RNAs are actively translated following DUX4 expression has hindered our understanding of the cascade of events that lead to muscle cell death. Here, we interrogate the DUX4 transcriptome and translatome over time and find dysregulation of most key pathways as early as 4 hours after DUX4 induction, demonstrating the potent effect of DUX4 in disrupting muscle biology. We also observe extensive transcript downregulation as well as induction, and a high concordance between mRNA abundance and translation status. Significantly, DUX4 triggers widespread production of truncated protein products derived from aberrant RNAs that are degraded in normal muscle cells. One such protein, truncated serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 3 (SRSF3-TR), is present in FSHD muscle cells and disrupts splicing autoregulation when ectopically expressed in myoblasts. Taken together, the temporal dynamics of DUX4 induction show how the pathologic presence of an embryonic transcription factor in muscle cells alters gene expression to ultimately perturb RNA homeostasis.

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