%A Esteves de Lima,Joana %A Bou Akar,Reem %A Mansour,Myriam %A Rocancourt,Didier %A Buckingham,Margaret %A Relaix,Frédéric %D 2021 %J Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology %C %F %G English %K pax3,M-cadherin,CDH15,Myotome,myogenesis %Q %R 10.3389/fcell.2021.652652 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2021-April-01 %9 Original Research %# %! M-Cadherin is a PAX3 target %* %< %T M-Cadherin Is a PAX3 Target During Myotome Patterning %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.652652 %V 9 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 2296-634X %X 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. Pax3-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. Here we show that in Pax3-mutant embryos, myotome formation is impaired, displays a defective basal lamina and the regionalization of the structural protein Desmin is lost. In addition, this phenotype is more severe in embryos combining Pax3-null and Pax3 dominant-negative alleles. We identify the adhesion molecule M-Cadherin as a PAX3 target gene, the expression of which is modulated in the myotome according to Pax3 gain- and loss-of-function alleles analyzed. Taken together, we identify M-Cadherin as a PAX3-target linked to the formation of the myotome.