The regulation of Notch signaling in muscle stem cell activation and postnatal myogenesis

The Notch signaling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved pathway that is critical for tissue morphogenesis during development, but is also involved in tissue maintenance and repair in the adult. In skeletal muscle, regulation of Notch signaling is involved in somitogenesis, muscle development, and the proliferation and cell fate determination of muscle stems cells during regeneration. During each of these processes, the spatial and temporal control of Notch signaling is essential for proper tissue formation. That control is mediated by a series of regulatory proteins and protein complexes that enhance or inhibit Notch signaling by regulating protein processing, localization, activity, and stability. In this review, we focus on the regulation of Notch signaling during postnatal muscle regeneration when muscle stem cells (“satellite cells”) must activate, proliferate, progress along a myogenic lineage pathway, and ultimately differentiate to form new muscle. We review the regulators of Notch signaling, such as Numb and Deltex, that have documented roles in myogenesis as well as other regulators that may play a role in modulating Notch signaling during satellite cell activation and postnatal myogenesis.