Distinct activities of Myf5 and MyoD indicate sequential roles in skeletal muscle lineage specification and differentiation (ChIP-Seq)

In this work we compare the molecular functions of Myf5 and MyoD, two highly related bHLH transcription factors that regulate skeletal muscle specification and differentiation. We find MyoD and Myf5 bind the same sites genome-wide but have distinct functions: Myf5 induces histone acetylation without Pol II recruitment or robust gene activation, whereas MyoD induces histone acetylation, recruits PolII and robustly activates gene transcription. Overall design: Chip-seq profiling of MyoD, Myf5, Histone H4 acetylation (H4Ac), and Pol II in MyoD-/-; Myf5-/- MEFs (M&M MEFs)