Skeletal myogenesis is regulated by signal transduction, but the factors and mechanisms involved are not well understood. The group I Paks Pak1 and Pak2 are related protein kinases and direct effectors of Cdc42 and Rac1. Group I Paks are ubiquitously expressed and specifically required for myoblast fusion in Drosophila. We report that both Pak1 and Pak2 are activated during mammalian myoblast differentiation. One pathway of activation is initiated by N-cadherin ligation and involves the cadherin coreceptor Cdo with its downstream effector, Cdc42. Individual genetic deletion of Pak1 and Pak2 in mice has no overt effect on skeletal muscle development or regeneration. However, combined muscle-specific deletion of Pak1 and Pak2 results in reduced muscle mass and a higher proportion of myofibers with a smaller cross-sectional area. This phenotype is exacerbated after repair to acute injury. Furthermore, primary myoblasts lacking Pak1 and Pak2 display delayed expression of myogenic differentiation markers and myotube formation. These results identify Pak1 and Pak2 as redundant regulators of myoblast differentiation in vitro and in vivo and as components of the promyogenic Ncad/Cdo/Cdc42 signaling pathway.KEYWORDS Pak, cell adhesion, cell differentiation, myogenesis, regeneration, signal transduction C ell differentiation is a complex process whereby precursor cells take on tissuespecific structure and function. Lineage-restricted transcription factors lie at the heart of cell differentiation, but the process is often initiated and fortified by ubiquitous signaling pathways that function in many biological contexts. Skeletal myogenesis serves as a paradigm for cell differentiation. Differentiation of skeletal myoblasts is a coordinated process involving adoption of a cell-type-specific transcriptional program and morphological changes, including fusion into multinucleated myofibers (1, 2). MyoD family proteins (MyoD, Myf5, myogenin, and MRF4) are muscle-specific transcription factors that act in concert with other, more broadly expressed transcription factors to establish the muscle phenotype (1, 3). The activities of these factors are regulated posttranslationally by non-muscle-specific signal transduction pathways. One such pathway is the p38␣/ mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK; here simply p38) pathway (4). p38 is activated during myogenic differentiation in vitro, and its inhibition results in impaired differentiation (5-7). Furthermore, mice lacking p38␣ exhibit delayed myofiber growth and maturation (8).The signals that initiate p38 activity during myoblast differentiation are poorly understood. One mechanism is via activation of a signaling complex nucleated at sites of cadherin-based cell-cell adhesion (9, 10). The transmembrane IgSF coreceptor Cdo (also called Cdon) is bound in cis to N-cadherin (Ncad) in myoblasts. During myoblast differentiation, or acutely upon Ncad ligation, the Cdo intracellular region associates directly with (i) Bnip-2, a scaffold protein for Cdc42, and (ii) JLP, a scaffo...