The impact of Hnrnpl deficiency on transcriptional patterns of developing muscle cells

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) bind to RNA, regulating gene expression and splicing. HnRNP L contributes to muscle development and the pathogenesis of myotonic dystrophy. We hypothesized that hnRNP L regulates muscle expression and splicing patterns. Using nanopore long-read transcriptome sequencing and qPCR analyses, we investigated the impact of Hnrnpl knockdown on myoblasts and knockdown of the orthologous gene smooth in Drosophila. Notch signaling genes and muscle-related genes were dysregulated in both models. Several genes had altered splicing patterns, including Lamp2, Fhl1, and Dtna. The α-DB1 isoform of Dtna was downregulated, whereas the α-DB3 isoform was upregulated. Our findings indicate that hnRNP L regulates both the transcription levels and splicing patterns of genes relevant to skeletal muscle development. We demonstrate the capabilities of long-read transcriptome sequencing to study muscle development. Comparisons between nanopore long-read transcriptome sequencing and data from PCR and qPCR analyses suggest that a minimum read depth of 10 is needed on nanopore sequencing to detect splicing differences greater than 10% to 20%. Future studies could determine whether the minimum read depth that we identified in our model is valid across a broader range of genes, cell types, and conditions. There are also intriguing hints of therapeutic implications of hnRNP L regulation for muscle diseases that merit further investigation.