Skeletal muscle during homeostasis Muscle stem cells function in the regeneration of skeletal muscle after injury, but their role in homeostasis is unclear. De Morree et al. show that, in the absence of injury, stem cells in different muscles have different rates of spontaneous activation and fusion, which depend on the level of Pax3 protein (see the Perspective by Xi and Pyle). Regulation of Pax3 protein occurs posttranscriptionally through the small nucleolar RNA U1 and microRNA miR206. This work explains how muscle stem cells are maintained under normal conditions and shows that homeostatic muscle stem cell activation varies in different muscle groups. Science , this issue p. 734 ; see also p. 684