Oncogenic Ras (H-Ras G12V) inhibits skeletal myogenesis through multiple signaling pathways. Previously, we demonstrated that the major downstream e ectors of Ras (i.e., MEK/MAPK, RalGDS and Rac/Rho) play a minor, if any, role in the di erentiation-defective phenotype of Ras myoblasts. Recently, NFkB, another Ras signaling target, has been shown to inhibit myogenesis presumably by stimulating cyclin D1 accumulation and cell cycle progression. In this study, we address the involvement of NFkB activation in the Ras-induced inhibition of myogenesis. Using H-Ras G12V and three G12V e ector-loop variants, we detect high levels of NFkB transcriptional activity in C3H10T1/2-MyoD cells treated with di erentiation medium. Myogenesis is blocked by all Ras proteins tested, yet only in the case of H-Ras G12V are cyclin D1 levels increased and cell cycle progression maintained. Expression of IkBa SR, an inhibitor of NFkB, does not reverse the di erentiation-defective phenotype of Ras expressing cultures, but does induce di erentiation in cultures treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNFa) or in cultures expressing the RelA/p65 subunit of NFkB. These data con®rm that NFkB is a target of Ras and suggest that the cellular actions of NFkB require additional signals that are discriminated by the Ras e ector-loop variants. Results with IkBa SR convincingly demonstrate that H-Ras G12V does not rely on NFkB activity to block myogenesis, an observation that continues to implicate another unidenti®ed signaling pathway(s) in the inhibition of skeletal myogenesis by Ras. Oncogene (2001) 20, 1276 ± 1286