I am interested in studying the transcriptional control programs involved in the specification and differentiation of muscle. Each of the three muscle types are unique in their morphology, contractility, embryonic origin, and differentiation. As such, each of the three muscle cell types are derived from distinct myogenic precursors during embryogenesis. Skeletal muscle arises primarily from precursors specified in the myotome of the somites in the mouse. Compartmentalization of the somites gives rise to the myotome, from which the axial musculature is derived.
Cardiac muscle is derived from the anterior splanchnic mesoderm.
These cells organize into a bilaterally symmetric cardiac crescent and eventually form the linear tubes which will migrate and fuse into the early heart. These cells arise from various precursor populations in different areas throughout the developing embryo. The data from many studies has led to the idea that the control of muscle differentation relies upon the combinatorial actions of transcription factors. We know a great deal about the factors involved in the specification and differentiation of skeletal muscle, however, we know very little about the factors which regulate the transcription of smooth muscle-specific genes. A.E. Tollefson, L.R. Gooding and W.S.M. Wold.