Chapter 53 - Skeletal Muscle: Architecture of Membrane Systems

Abstract

In this chapter we focus on mammalian muscle development, with reference to avian and other vertebrate systems when they provide particular insights. The mouse is the principal mammalian model system presented since it is amenable to genetic manipulation, often complemented by direct experimentation on the more accessible chick embryo. In the first part we discuss the formation of trunk and limb muscles that derive from the somites and the regulation of this process by transcription factors and signalling pathways, during embryonic and fetal myogenesis. In the second part we address the formation of anterior skeletal muscles, notably those of the head and some neck muscles that are not derived from somites. In this context, also, myogenic regulatory factors control muscle cell determination and differentiation, but the upstream gene regulatory network is different and there is overlap with cardiogenesis.