Cellular and molecular approaches for altering muscle growth and development

Understanding the cellular and molecular processes involved in the developm ent of muscle is necessary to develop new strategies for improving the effi ciency of meat-animal production. The objectives of this paper are to revie w some of the processes of muscle development important to meat animal prod uction, including meat quality, and to identify potential cellular and mole cular biological approaches to alter these developmental processes. Some of the processes by which muscle develops can be exploited in order to develo p in vivo models for further study of muscle growth. Cell-mediated gene tra nsfer and direct DNA injection are among the many techniques that can be us ed to develop in vivo animal models, and these models can be developed in m eat-producing species. Many of these models will undoubtedly lead to the de velopment of strategies to enhance meat-animal production.