031250 Why Is Dark Meat Dark?December 25, 2003HealthDayNews - White meat or dark meat? Scientists can't predict what your preference will be, but they have identified the genetic switch that determines which parts of the Christmas turkey are white meat and which are dark. Dr. Philip Ingham of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sheffield says a genetic switch known to determine the type of some white blood cells also has a hand in guiding muscle development. The switch, Blimp-1, regulates the growth of slow twitch muscle fibers that specialize in extended exertion, such as the long flight of ducks and geese. Those fibers are what make up dark meat, as opposed to white meat, which is made up of fast muscle that fuels quick bursts of effort -- like the short flights of turkeys or chickens. Ingham and his team came to this conclusion while studying fish muscle cells. Their findings were published this week in Nature. "This finding has implications for future research into how muscle genes are switched on and off and could provide new ways of manipulating the proportions of slow and fast twitch fibers in muscles," Ingham says.
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