Transient expression of XMyoD in non-somitic mesoderm of Xenopus gastrulae.

XMyoD is the earliest marker of muscle development in Xenopus embryos and is expressed in presumptive somites in the late gastrula. In the early gastrula, in situ hybridization showed XMyoD transcripts in precursors of both muscle and non-muscle mesoderm. Embryos ventralized by UV irradiation made no muscle, but expressed XMyoD transiently. Embryo explants that differentiated ventral mesoderm also expressed XMyoD transiently. These results show that the initiation of XMyoD expression is not sufficient to convert cells to muscle and suggest that XMyoD is expressed in response to a general mesodermalizing signal; expression is stabilized and enhanced only in muscle precursors that have received a dorsalizing signal.