Myogenesis: A View from Drosophila

signals such as TGFb, Wnt, and Hh family members (Bate, 1993; Lawrence et al., 1995; Wu et al., 1995; Azpiazu et al., 1996; Bate and Baylies, 1996; Tajbakhsh and Mary K. Baylies,* Michael Bate,† and Mar Ruiz Gomez† *Molecular Biology Program Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Cossu, 1997). Myogenic lineages arise from these segmental units, and genes coding for components of the Sloan Kettering Division Graduate School of Medical Sciences myogenic pathways have been remarkably conserved in many instances. However, there appear to be differCornell University 1275 York Avenue ences in the way in which these elements are deployed in flies and vertebrates. These differences may reflect New York, New York 10021 †Department of Zoology a real divergence in the development of the musculature in two widely separated groups of animals, or alternaUniversity of Cambridge Downing Street tively, and perhaps more interestingly, they may represent variations in a common program that is, as yet, Cambridge CB2 3EJ England incompletely understood.