Applied muscle biology and meat science.

9781420092721

Applied muscle biology and meat science.

Ed. by Min Du and Richard J. McCormick.

CRC / Taylor & Francis

2009

337 pages

$109.95

Hardcover

TS1955

The editors (professors of animal science at the U. of Wyoming) present 16 chapters reviewing the state-of-the-art in applied muscle biology and meat science. Following an analysis of muscle structure with an emphasis on muscle proteins, microstructure, membrane composition, and contraction, contributions discuss aspects of the growth and development of skeletal muscle and its components, including myogenesis, the biology and nature of satellite cells, adipogenesis, fetal muscle development and its connection to maternal nutritional status, the characteristics of muscle fiber types, mechanisms of in vivo protein degradation, and collagen and other matrix constituents and their contribution to muscle growth and quality. Other contributions focus on postmortem changes in mammalian and fish muscles that are important to meat quality characteristics and include discussions of proteolysis, glycolysis, alterations in protein signaling pathways responsible for poor quality "acid meat" in pigs, and factors responsible for lipid oxidation in meat. Molecular techniques used in breeding programs, including molecular mapping and marker-assisted breeding, are then discussed and the volume concludes with an examination of animal welfare and the ethics of using animals for food.

([c]2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)