Skeletal Muscle Development in Fish

During myogenesis of skeletal muscle in vertebrates, stem cells develop into mesodermal progenitor cells, then to myoblasts and finally to myocytes and muscle fibres. In fish, myogenesis is mainly studied in the zebrafish model as well as a few economically important fish like salmon or carp. However, the key processes that generally underlie muscle growth in fish are still not completely understood. Therefore, one aim of our group is to identify and characterize myogenic stem cell populations and to discover their role in myogenic processes.
The product of myogenesis is the fish filet, which is of major importance for consumers. Filet quality is species-specific and for our local, economically important aquaculture, it has not been studied so far. Our aim is to establish methods for a defined analysis of fish flesh quality to ensure a high product quality in the aquaculture of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Our working group focuses on several aspects which will be examined using histological, molecular and physico-chemical methods.

• Myogenesis in evolution: We will analyse possible similarities and differences of myogenesis in evolutionary diverse fish lineages.
• Comparison of "marathon runners" and "sprinters": We will examine myogenesis of pelagic fishes, who swim most of the time and benthic fishes e.g. flat fishes who swim mostly short distances.
• Fish flesh quality: Establishment of sensory, physico-chemical and chemical measurement techniques for the supervision and the comparison of fish fillet in local fish species.

Such knowledge serves as basis for fish culture and could be used as a prognosis for analyzing the effects on fish growth caused by stress e.g. non optimal aquaculture conditions.