For more than a century, studies on tunicate muscle formation have revealed many principles of cell fate specification, gene regulation, morphogenesis, and evolution. Here, we review the key studies that have probed the development of all the various muscle cell types in a wide variety of tunicate species. We seize this occasion to explore the implications and questions raised by these findings in the broader context of muscle evolution in chordates.
Keywords: Ascidians; Cardiopharyngeal mesoderm; MRF; Maternal determinants; Muscle; Myoplasm; Neuromesodermal; Tunicates.