The conference “BAF60c-MyoD complex poises chromatin for myogenic differentiation” by Dr. Sònia Forcales, from the Institute of Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer (IMPPC), which took place on November 22th in the Auditorium of the University of Barcelona (Campus Bellvitge) focused on the role of BAF60c in muscle and muscular dystrophy differentiation.

Dr. Forcades talked about muscular dystrophies (DMD). There are more than 30 types of DMD and there is not a cure, only treatment for palliative purposes. The process of degeneration is insufficient to match the pace of degeneration in DMD. “We use an in vitro system in order to study the possible regeneration process. We wanted to understand the epigenetic changes that occur in the gene expression to differentiate or to multiply them. There are three specific BAF that code genes: a, b and c. The BAF60c is the most abundant and plays an essential role for myogenic differentiation”, said the researcher.

What is the role of BAF60c for myogenic transcriptosome?

BAF60c knock down prevents the assembly of an active myogenic transcriptosome. It is also important for any stage of the assembly. There are distinct BAF60c-associated complexes in myoblasts and myotubes. Our collaborators in China found that BAF60c preferentially interacts with MyoD homodimer. BAF60c and MyoD interacts in byoblasts”, said Forcales.

“We saw that BAF60c-MyoD complex induces the reprogramming of hESC to myospheres”, explained Forcades. “BAF60c is necessary for muscle differentiation”, concluded the IMPPC’s researcher.