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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Adult and Embryonic Skeletal Muscle Microexplant Culture and Isolation of Skeletal Muscle Stem Cells
Published on: September 21, 2010
Control of facial muscle development by MyoR and capsulin
Jian-Rong Lu1, Rhonda Bassel-Duby, April Hawkins
1Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 6000 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9148, USA.
Abstract:
Members of the MyoD family of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors control the formation of all skeletal muscles in vertebrates, but little is known of the molecules or mechanisms that confer unique identities to different types of skeletal muscles. MyoR and capsulin are related bHLH transcription factors expressed in specific facial muscle precursors. We show that specific facial muscles are missing in mice lacking both MyoR and capsulin, reflecting the absence of MyoD family gene expression and ablation of the corresponding myogenic lineages. These findings identify MyoR and capsulin as unique transcription factors for the development of specific head muscles.
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