Spatiotemporal control of myoblast identity drives muscle diversity in the Drosophila leg
Abstract
Skeletal muscles exhibit notable morphological diversity, yet the developmental mechanisms specifying distinct identities are unclear. Using Drosophila leg muscles, we show that naïve mesodermal precursors undergo stepwise specification orchestrated by epithelial morphogens. Wg/Wnt1 and Dpp/BMP first restrict multipotent precursors into proximal and distal lineages. Within the distal lineage, successive fate bifurcations generate distinct muscle subtypes and a separate nonmuscle lineage of neuronal lamella cells. Focusing on one lineage, we demonstrate that Wg and Dpp act again to control the spatiotemporal deployment of transcription factors, ensuring that groups of myoblasts destined to fuse to produce a specific muscle share a coordinated transcriptional identity. Thus, epithelial morphogens not only pattern the epithelium but also synchronize myoblast specification, enabling the emergence of diverse muscles from syncytial fibers. Our findings provide a framework for the developmental and evolutionary origins of appendicular muscles and may help explain the selective vulnerability of specific muscles in muscular dystrophies.
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BibTeX
@article{guillermin2026spatiotemporal,
title = {{Spatiotemporal control of myoblast identity drives muscle diversity in the Drosophila leg}},
author = {Camille Guillermin and Violaine Tribollet and Mathilde Bouchet and Anne Laurencon and Dan Zhou and Sergio Sarnataro and Laurent Gilquin and Isabelle Stevant and Guillaume Marcy and Emeric Texeraud and Yad Ghavi-Helm and Benjamin Gillet and Sandrine Hughes and Samantha Vonau and Jonathan Enriquez},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aed0910},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05768689v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Spatiotemporal control of myoblast identity drives muscle diversity in the Drosophila leg
AU - Camille Guillermin
AU - Violaine Tribollet
AU - Mathilde Bouchet
AU - Anne Laurencon
AU - Dan Zhou
AU - Sergio Sarnataro
AU - Laurent Gilquin
AU - Isabelle Stevant
AU - Guillaume Marcy
AU - Emeric Texeraud
AU - Yad Ghavi-Helm
AU - Benjamin Gillet
AU - Sandrine Hughes
AU - Samantha Vonau
AU - Jonathan Enriquez
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aed0910
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05768689v1
AB - Skeletal muscles exhibit notable morphological diversity, yet the developmental mechanisms specifying distinct identities are unclear. Using Drosophila leg muscles, we show that naïve mesodermal precursors undergo stepwise specification orchestrated by epithelial morphogens. Wg/Wnt1 and Dpp/BMP first restrict multipotent precursors into proximal and distal lineages. Within the distal lineage, successive fate bifurcations generate distinct muscle subtypes and a separate nonmuscle lineage of neuronal lamella cells. Focusing on one lineage, we demonstrate that Wg and Dpp act again to control the spatiotemporal deployment of transcription factors, ensuring that groups of myoblasts destined to fuse to produce a specific muscle share a coordinated transcriptional identity. Thus, epithelial morphogens not only pattern the epithelium but also synchronize myoblast specification, enabling the emergence of diverse muscles from syncytial fibers. Our findings provide a framework for the developmental and evolutionary origins of appendicular muscles and may help explain the selective vulnerability of specific muscles in muscular dystrophies.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -