Transcriptome-wide RNA 5-methylcytosine profiles of human iPSCs and iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes

Cardiac regenerative therapy has recently progressed by reprogramming somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and advanced by large-scale differentiation-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs). However, repairing damaged cardiac tissues with hiPSC-CMs remains limited due to immune rejection, cardiac arrhythmias, and concerns over tumor formation after hiPSC-CM transplantation. Despite efforts in profiling epigenomic changes during cardiac differentiation, regulatory mechanisms underlying 5-methylcytosine (m⁵C) deposition in RNA m⁵C epitranscriptomic landscape during hiPSC-to-cardiomyocyte differentiation remain unclear. Herein, bisulfite RNA-sequencing analysis was conducted in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) from three independent cellular origins, and their derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CM), metabolic-maturation of derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CM-lac) and biochemical-enhanced derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CM-TDI). Integrated analysis of differentially methylated RNA m⁵C profiles and transcriptome-wide expression facilitated the identification of m⁵C sites coupled to the cardiomyocyte differentiation and RNA-dependent regulatory mechanisms of stem cell pluripotency. The RNA m⁵C profiles in this dataset allow the evaluations of the m⁵C level and distribution of specific m⁵C loci and facilitate understanding of the m⁵C epitranscriptomic landscape in biological functions of hPSC-CM beyond in vivo transplantation barriers.