Lin28a maintains a subset of adult muscle stem cells in an embryonic-like state

During homeostasis and after injury, adult muscle stem cells (MuSCs) activate to mediate muscle regeneration. However, much remains unclear regarding the heterogeneous capacity of MuSCs for self-renewal and regeneration. Here, we show that Lin28a is expressed in embryonic limb bud muscle progenitors, and that a rare reserve subset of Lin28a(+)Pax7(-) skeletal MuSCs can respond to injury at adult stage by replenishing the Pax7(+) MuSC pool to drive muscle regeneration. Compared with adult Pax7(+) MuSCs, Lin28a(+) MuSCs displayed enhanced myogenic potency in vitro and in vivo upon transplantation. The epigenome of adult Lin28a(+) MuSCs showed resemblance to embryonic muscle progenitors. In addition, RNA-sequencing revealed that Lin28a(+) MuSCs co-expressed higher levels of certain embryonic limb bud transcription factors, telomerase components and the p53 inhibitor Mdm4, and lower levels of myogenic differentiation markers compared to adult Pax7(+) MuSCs, resulting in enhanced self-renewal and stress-response signatures. Functionally, conditional ablation and induction of Lin28a(+) MuSCs in adult mice revealed that these cells are necessary and sufficient for efficient muscle regeneration. Together, our findings connect the embryonic factor Lin28a to adult stem cell self-renewal and juvenile regeneration.