Mutations in certain nuclear envelope (NE) proteins cause muscular dystrophies and other disorders, but the disease mechanisms remain unclear. The nuclear envelope transmembrane protein NET25 (Lem2) is a truncated paralog of MAN1, an NE component linked to bone disorders. NET25 and MAN1 share an ϳ40-residue LEM homology domain with emerin, the protein mutated in X-linked Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. However, roles for NET25 and MAN1 in myogenesis have not yet been described. Using RNA interference in C2C12 myoblasts, we show for the first time that both NET25 and MAN1 are required for myogenic differentiation. NET25 depletion causes hyperactivation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 at the onset of differentiation, and pharmacological inhibition of this transient overactivation rescues myogenesis. In contrast, pharmacological inhibition of both mitogen-activated protein kinase and transforming growth factor  signaling is required to rescue differentiation after MAN1 depletion. Ectopic expression of silencing-resistant NET25 rescues myogenesis after depletion of emerin but not after MAN1 silencing. Thus, NET25 and emerin have at least partially overlapping functions during myogenic differentiation, which are distinct from those of MAN1. Our work supports the hypothesis that deregulation of cell signaling contributes to NE-linked disorders and suggests that mutations in NET25 and MAN1 may cause muscle diseases.The nuclear envelope (NE), which forms the barrier between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, consists of the inner nuclear membrane (INM) and outer nuclear membrane, nuclear pore complexes, and the nuclear lamina. The lamina is a meshwork of intermediate type filament proteins (lamins A/C, B1, and B2) associated with numerous transmembrane proteins of the INM. The transmembrane proteins of the INM include emerin, MAN1, and NET25, the main subjects of this study. The lamina provides a scaffold for the NE and anchoring sites for chromatin and the cytoplasmic cytoskeleton and has been implicated in regulation of gene expression, DNA replication, and cell signaling (reviewed in reference 40).Mutations in genes encoding NE proteins have been causally linked to a host of human diseases (reviewed in reference 43). The most common of these are diseases affecting mesenchymederived tissues, particularly cardiac and skeletal muscle. Autosomal dominant Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) (5), limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 1B (29), and dilated cardiomyopathy (see reference 36 and references therein) are caused by certain mutations in LMNA, the gene encoding lamins A/C. The X-linked form of EDMD results from mutations in EMD, which encodes the lamin A-binding transmembrane protein emerin (4). Although LMNA and EMD mutations account for roughly two-thirds of all reported EDMD cases, the genetic basis for the remaining third remains unknown (19).Muscular dystrophies are diseases that result from increased muscle degeneration and/or impaired muscle regeneration. Satellite cells are the major muscle r...