Mesogenin 1 (MSGN1)

Basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins are transcriptional regulatory proteins that govern cell fate determination and tissue differentiation in the embryo. Yoon and Wold (2000) identified a novel bHLH gene, which they designated mesogenin-1, in mouse and Xenopus. In both organisms the gene is specifically expressed in unsegmented paraxial mesoderm and its immediate progenitors.

Yoon and Wold (2000) found that a striking feature of mesogenin-1 expression is that it terminates abruptly in presumptive somites (somitomeres). In functional assays, mesogenin-1 from either mouse or frog efficiently drove nonmesodermal cells to assume a phenotype with molecular and cellular characteristics of early paraxial mesoderm.