Specification of Jaw Muscle Identity in Zebrafish: Correlation with engrailed-Homeoprotein Expression

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1990-11, Vol.250 (4982), p.802-805
• Main Authors: Hatta, Kohei, Schilling, Thomas F., BreMiller, Ruth A., Kimmel, Charles B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Differentiation; Danio rerio; Developmental biology; DNA-Binding Proteins - blood; Embryology: invertebrates and vertebrates. Teratology; Embryonic stem cells; Embryos; Fish; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes, Homeobox; Genetics; Growth cones; Hair cells; Hindbrain; Jaw; Jaw - embryology; Jaws; Marine; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesoderm; Molecules; Morphogenesis; Motor Neurons - cytology; Muscles; Muscles - embryology; Muscles - innervation; Muscles - metabolism; Muscular system; Nervous system; Neural stem cells; Neurons; Organogenesis. Fetal development; Organogenesis. Physiological fonctions; Stomatognathic system; Zebrafish - embryology
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1978412

Molecules that determine the specific features of individual muscles in vertebrates are unknown. Antibody labeling studies described here revealed a molecular difference among muscles in the zebrafish head, in that two functionally related jaw muscles (the levator arcus palatini and the dilator operculi), and not other head muscles, expressed engrailed-homeodomain proteins. Expression began in mesoderm-derived muscle-precursor cells in the paraxial mesenchyme and continued during muscle morphogenesis and differentiation. Growth cones of trigeminal motoneurons that innervate these muscles associated with the precursors within a few hours of the time they began to express engrailed. It is proposed that the engrailed proteins in these cells establish muscle identity and neuromuscular target recognition.