Branchiomeric craniofacial muscles differ from all other skeletal muscles with respect to
embryological origin, motor innervation and upstream activators of myogenesis. A series of
recent studies has revealed a striking juxtaposition and overlapping genetic program of
craniofacial skeletal muscle progenitor cells with a population of cells giving rise to cardiac
muscle. The divergent myogenic fates of adjacent progenitor cells revealed by these data
provide a new framework for the study of craniofacial myogenesis.