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Generation of chick skeletal muscle cells in groups of 16 from stem cells

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Abstract

The commonly accepted hypothesis explaining the control of skeletal muscle differentiation is that all myogenic precursor cells are equivalent and that they differentiate into post-mitotic muscle cells in response to exogenous signals, specifically low mitogen concentrations1,2. Large clones derived from vertebrate myogenic cells, however, consist both of cycling precursors and of terminally differentiated, post-mitotic muscle cells3–7. Here, we count the total number of cells and the number of terminally differentiated cells (or nuclei, in fused cells) in large myogenic clones. The number of terminally differentiated cells per clone was usually equal to or just below a multiple of 16. This finding is not expected from a model postulating a homogeneous population of muscle precursor cells. Rather, our results suggest that a self-renewing stem cell exists in the skeletal muscle lineage. This cell can generate committed precursors which then give rise to cohorts of 16 terminally differentiated muscle cells. This model of myogenesis provides a simple explanation for the protracted and asynchronous nature of muscle differentiation in vertebrate embryogenesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Biological Structure and Pathology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    LeBris Smith Quinn

  2. Department of Anatomy, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19174, USA

    Howard Holtzer

  3. Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    Mark Nameroff

Authors
  1. LeBris Smith Quinn
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  2. Howard Holtzer
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  3. Mark Nameroff
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Quinn, L., Holtzer, H. & Nameroff, M. Generation of chick skeletal muscle cells in groups of 16 from stem cells. Nature 313, 692–694 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/313692a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/313692a0

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