Developmental biologists have uncovered many of the signaling proteins that are required
to recruit early embryonic cells to the myocardial lineage. A detailed understanding of their
function should provide insights into the difficult task of inducing embryonic stem cells to
develop cardiomyocyte precursors for cell-based therapies. These proteins may also prove
to be useful to stimulate progenitor cells to differentiate into cardiomyocytes within the
damaged heart.