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.

Table of Contents:
1: Number and Size of Muscle Fibres in Relation to Meat Production, C Rehfeldt and I Fiedler, Research Institute for the Biology of Farm Animals, Germany, and N C Stickland, The Royal Veterinary College, UK 2: Fibre Type Identification and Functional Characterization in Adult Livestock Animals, C Reggiani and F Mascarello, University of Padova, Italy 3: Manipulation of Muscle Fibre Number During Prenatal Development, N C Stickland, S Bayol and C Ashton, The Royal Veterinary College, UK, and C Rehfeldt 4: The Effect of Growth and Exercise on Muscle Characteristics in Relation to Meat Quality, E G Dingboom and W A Weijs, Utrecht University, The Netherlands 5: Nutrition, Hormone Receptor Expression and Gene Interactions: Implications for Development and Disease, M J Dauncey, The Babraham Institute, UK, M Katsumata, National Agricultural Research Centre for Kyushu Okinawa Region, Japan 6: The Impact of Minerals and Micronutrients on Growth Control, I Dørup, University of Aarhus, Denmark 7: Na+,K+-ATPase in Skeletal Muscle: Significance of Exercise and Thyroid Hormones for Development and Performance, S Slob, P H M Klaren and M E Everts, Utrecht University, The Netherlands 8: Local and Systemic Regulation of Muscle Growth, G Goldspink, University College London, UK 9: Proteolytic Systems and the Regulation of Muscle Remodeling and Breakdown, V T Los and H P Haagsman, Utrecht University, The Netherlands 10: The Muscle Regulatory Factors Gene Family in Relation to Meat Production, P H J Houba and M F W te Pas, ID-Lelystad, The Netherlands 11: The Muscle Transcriptome, K Wimmers, S Ponsuksili and K Schellander, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universtät, Germany 12: Genome Analysis of QTL for Muscle Tissue Development and Meat Quality, M F Rothschild, Iowa State University, USA, J P Bidanel, INRA, France, and D C Ciobanu, Sygen International, Berkeley 13: Functional Genomics and Proteomics in Relation to Muscle Tissue, C Maltin, The Rowett Research Institute, UK, and G Plastow, PIC International Group PLC, UK 14: Role of Myostatin in Muscle Growth, R Kambadur, A Bishop, M S Salerno, S McCroskery and M Sharma, AgResearch, New Zealand 15: The Callipyge Mutation for Sheep Muscular Hypertrophy: Genetics, Physiology and Meat Quality, B A Freking, T P L Smith and K A Leymaster, US Meat Animal Research Center, USA 16: Genetic Control of Intramuscular Fat Accretion, F Gerbens, University of Groningen, The Netherlands 17: Post-mortem Muscle Proteolysis and Meat Tenderness, D L Hopkins, NSW Agriculture, Australia, and R G Taylor, INRA, France 18: Water-holding Capacity of Meat, K O Honikel, Federal Centre for Meat Research, Germany Perspectives"