Cover: Transverse view of the dorsal trunk region of a wildtype E10.5 mouse embryo immunolabelled for myosin heavy chain (red), laminin α2 chain (green) and with DAPI staining (blue). The myotome, containing differentiated myocytes (red) and myoblasts, stains strongly for laminin α2 (green). When α2-laminins are absent, as in merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy (MDC1A), fetal muscle growth is impaired, and normal muscle size is not recovered postnatally. MDC1A thus starts before birth in laminin α2-deficient mice and the onset of the disease in utero is marked by impaired fetal myogenesis. See article by Nunes et al., pp. 2018–2033.