Origin of vertebrate limb muscle: the role of progenitor and myoblast populations

Abstract

Muscle development, growth, and regeneration take place throughout vertebrate life. In amniotes, myogenesis takes place in four successive, temporally distinct, although overlapping phases. Understanding how embryonic, fetal, neonatal, and adult muscle are formed from muscle progenitors and committed myoblasts is an area of active research. In this review we examine recent expression, genetic loss-of-function, and genetic lineage studies that have been conducted in the mouse, with a particular focus on limb myogenesis. We synthesize these studies to present a current model of how embryonic, fetal, neonatal, and adult muscle are formed in the limb.

Figure 1

Five theoretical models describing derivation of embryonic, fetal/neonatal, and adult limb muscle in mouse.

Figure 2

Summary of current model of embryonic, fetal/neonatal, and adult limb myogenesis in the mouse.