The molecules involved in vertebrate tendon formation during development remain largely
unknown. To date, only two DNA-binding proteins have been identified as being involved in
vertebrate tendon formation, the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Scleraxis and,
recently, the Mohawk homeobox gene. We investigated the involvement of the early growth
response transcription factors Egr1 and Egr2 in vertebrate tendon formation. We established
that Egr1 and Egr2 expression in tendon cells was correlated with the increase of collagen …