Segmentation Genes and the Development of Skeletal Muscle Progenitors in Zebrafish

ii Table of Contents iv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Development of skeletal muscle in the vertebrate embryo 4 The paraxial mesoderm, source of all myogenic cells 4 Upstream transcriptional regulators of embryonic myogenesis 5 Cellular dynamics and myogenic cell identities/fates in the amniote dermomyotome and myotome 8 Dermomyotome and myotome in zebrafish 11 Regulation of cell fate and spatial patterning in the paraxial mesoderm 14 Signaling molecules pattern the paraxial mesoderm along the dorsal-ventral and medial-lateral axes and regulate myogenesis 14 Intrinsic factors pattern the paraxial mesoderm along the anterior-posterior axis and regulate somite formation 18 Tbx6, Mesp and Ripply proteins establish anterior-posterior somite polarity.... 21