M-Cadherin Is a PAX3 Target During Myotome Patterning.

PAX3 belongs to the paired-homeobox family of transcription factors and plays a key role as an upstream regulator of muscle progenitor cells during embryonic development. -mutant embryos display impaired somite development, yet the consequences for myotome formation have not been characterized. The early myotome is formed by PAX3-expressing myogenic cells that delaminate from the dermomyotomal lips and migrate between the dermomyotome and sclerotome where they terminally differentiate.