Three zebrafish MEF2 genes delineate somitic and cardiac muscle development in wild-type and mutant embryos.

The zebrafish is an important experimental system for vertebrate embryology, and is well suited to the molecular analysis of muscle development. Transcription factors, such as the MEF2s, regulate skeletal and cardiac muscle-specific genes during development. We report the identification of three zebrafish MEF2 genes which, like their mammalian counterparts, encode factors that function as DNA-binding transcriptional activators of muscle specific promoters. The pattern of MEF2 expression in zebrafish defines discrete cell populations in the developing somites and heart and has mechanistic implications for developmental regulation of the MEF2 genes, when compared with other species. Alteration of MEF2 expression in two mutants affecting somitogenesis provides insight into the control of muscle formation in the embryo.