Pax-3 expression in segmental mesoderm marks early stages in myogenic cell specification.

Specification of the myogenic lineage begins prior to gastrulation and culminates in the emergence of determined myogenic precursor cells from the somites. The myoD family (MDF) of transcriptional activators controls late step(s) in myogenic specification that are closely followed by terminal muscle differentiation. Genes expressed in myogenic specification at stages earlier than MDFs are unknown. The Pax-3 gene is expressed in all the cells of the caudal segmental plate, the early mesoderm compartment that contains the precursors of skeletal muscle. As somites form from the segmental plate and mature, Pax-3 expression is progressively modulated. Beginning at the time of segmentation, Pax-3 becomes repressed in the ventral half of the somite, leaving Pax-3 expression only in the dermomyotome. Subsequently, differential modulation of Pax-3 expression levels delineates the medial and lateral halves of the dermomyotome, which contain precursors of axial (back) muscle and limb muscle, respectively. Pax-3 expression is then repressed as dermomyotome-derived cells activate MDFs. Quail-chick chimera and ablation experiments confirmed that the migratory precursors of limb muscle continue to express Pax-3 during migration. Since limb muscle precursors do not activate MDFs until 2 days after they leave the somite, Pax-3 represents the first molecular marker for this migratory cell population. A null mutation of the mouse Pax-3 gene, Splotch, produces major disruptions in early limb muscle development (Franz, T., Kothary, R., Surani, M. A. H., Halata, Z. and Grim, M. (1993) Anat. Embryol. 187, 153-160; Goulding, M., Lumsden, A. and Paquette, A. (1994) Development 120, 957-971). We conclude, therefore, that Pax-3 gene expression in the paraxial mesoderm marks earlier stages in myogenic specification than MDFs and plays a crucial role in the specification and/or migration of limb myogenic precursors.