Muscle Development of Livestock Animals: Physiology, Genetics and Meat Quality

1. Number and Size of Muscle Fibres in Relation to Meat Production
2. Fibre Type Identification and Functional Characterization in Adult Livestock Animals
3. Manipulation of Muscle Fibre Number During Prenatal Development
4. The Effect of Growth and Exercise on Muscle Characteristics in Relation to Meat Quality
5. Nutrition, Hormone Receptor Expression and Gene Interactions: Implications for Development and Disease
6. The Impact of Minerals and Micronutrients on Growth Control
7. Na+,K + -ATPase in Skeletal Muscle: Significance of Exercise and Thyroid Hormones for Development and Performance
8. Local and Systemic Regulation of Muscle Growth
9. Proteolytic Systems and the Regulation of Muscle Remodelling and Breakdown
10. The Muscle Regulatory Factors Gene Family in Relation to Meat Production
11. The Muscle Transcriptome
12. Genome Analysis of QTL for Muscle Tissue Development and Meat Quality
13. Functional Genomics and Proteomics in Relation to Muscle Tissue
14. Role of Myostatin in Muscle Growth
15. The CallipygeMutation for Sheep Muscular Hypertrophy – Genetics, Physiology and Meat Quality
16. Genetic Control of Intramuscular Fat Accretion
17. Post-mortem Muscle Proteolysis and Meat Tenderness
18. Water-holding Capacity of Meat

Well-developed and functional muscle tissues are a prerequisite for healthy meat-producing animals. Good muscle development leads to improved meat quality. Hence modern breeds of livestock animal have been selectively bred for better conformation, increased muscle size and increased muscle-to-bone ratio. This book describes all aspects of muscle development research, and contains contributions from leading research groups around the world