Fig. 1

Characteristics of pMSCs, iMSCs, and KO-iMSCs. a The expression of marker genes. The mRNA expression level of each gene was analyzed by RT-qPCR in pMSCs derived from skeletal muscle, iMSCs, KO-iMSCs, undifferentiated healthy iPSCs, and COL6A1KO-iPSCs. Levels are shown relative to the level in healthy iPSCs for the pluripotency markers NANOG, SOX2, and OCT3/4 or in pMSCs for the MSC markers COL6A1 and PDGFR-A. Data are shown as the mean ± SD. n = 3. b Immunofluorescence images of pMSCs, iMSCs, KO-iMSCs, and healthy iPSCs. The inserts in the lower panels are higher magnifications and show the fibril structure. Scale bars, 100 μm, and 10 μm (inserts). c Western blots of COL6A1 protein expression in pMSCs, iMSCs, and KO-iMSCs. β-Actin was used as the control. Average fold changes between iMSCs, KO-iMSCs, and pMSCs are indicated below. d PCA plot showing the clustering of cell populations based on the transcriptomes. Proportion of variance: PC1 = 43.764%, PC2 = 19.746%, PC3 = 17.682%. e Heatmap of MSC markers, myogenic markers, and pluripotency markers