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Xenopus muscle development: From primary to secondary myogenesis
Author(s) -
Chanoine Christophe,
Hardy Serge
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.10206
Subject(s) - myogenesis , xenopus , biology , mesoderm , pax3 , microbiology and biotechnology , paraxial mesoderm , multinucleate , myocyte , fgf and mesoderm formation , genetics , anatomy , gene , embryonic stem cell , transcription factor
Xenopus myogenesis is characterized by specific features, different from those of mammalian and avian systems both at the cellular level and in gene expression patterns. During early embryogenesis, after the initial molecular signals inducing mesoderm, the myogenic determination factors XMyoD and XMyf‐5 are activated in presomitic mesoderm in response to mesoderm‐inducing factors. After these first inductions of the myogenic program, forming muscles in Xenopus can have different destinies, some of these resulting in cell death before adulthood. In particular, it is quite characteristic of this species that, during metamorphosis, the primary myotomal myofibers completely die and are progressively replaced by secondary “adult” multinucleated myofibers. This feature offers the unique opportunity to totally separate the molecular analysis of these two distinct types of myogenesis. The aim of this review is to summarize our knowledge on the cellular and molecular events as well as the epigenetic regulations involved in the construction of Xenopus muscles during development. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.