In farm animals, fat pads located at subcutaneous, visceral and mesenteric depots are always considered as a waste for meat production, while the adipocytes scattered between and within muscle bundles, also named as intramuscular fat or marbling fat, is highly desirable for enhancing meat flavor and palatability. With the growing needs for high-quality meat, worldwide efforts have been made to increase marbling fat deposition while reducing the overall fatness of animals.
This Research Topic aims at addressing the new trends and emerging technologies regarding marbling fat in meat animals, including but not limited to the origin and peculiarity of intramuscular adipocytes, key genes or pathways regulating intramuscular adipogenesis or the ectopic fat deposition within myofibers, the cross-talk between intramuscular adipocytes with the microenvironment, the optimized methods to measure marbling score, as well as the development of feeding strategies that benefit marbling score.
This Research Topic is open to original Original Research articles and Reviews on
• Key moleculars or pathways underlying the proliferation, differentiation and lipid accumulation in intramuscular adipocytes
• Genetic and/or nutritional strategies to modulate marbling fat
• The niche for intramuscular adipogenesis
• New approaches to optimize the fatty acid composition in marbling fat
• New technologies to measure marbling score
In farm animals, fat pads located at subcutaneous, visceral and mesenteric depots are always considered as a waste for meat production, while the adipocytes scattered between and within muscle bundles, also named as intramuscular fat or marbling fat, is highly desirable for enhancing meat flavor and palatability. With the growing needs for high-quality meat, worldwide efforts have been made to increase marbling fat deposition while reducing the overall fatness of animals.
This Research Topic aims at addressing the new trends and emerging technologies regarding marbling fat in meat animals, including but not limited to the origin and peculiarity of intramuscular adipocytes, key genes or pathways regulating intramuscular adipogenesis or the ectopic fat deposition within myofibers, the cross-talk between intramuscular adipocytes with the microenvironment, the optimized methods to measure marbling score, as well as the development of feeding strategies that benefit marbling score.
This Research Topic is open to original Original Research articles and Reviews on
• Key moleculars or pathways underlying the proliferation, differentiation and lipid accumulation in intramuscular adipocytes
• Genetic and/or nutritional strategies to modulate marbling fat
• The niche for intramuscular adipogenesis
• New approaches to optimize the fatty acid composition in marbling fat
• New technologies to measure marbling score