Professor

Growth and Muscle Biology

Research Interests

Muscle Development and Meat Quality

The overall goal of our laboratory is to maximize the production of high quality meat. Three distinct, yet related, approaches have been selected by our laboratory that enable us to make progress toward that end. Ultimate meat quality is manifested during embryonic development. During this period of time, muscle fibers are developed in a phasic manner. Each population of fibers developed has unique characteristics that affect animal growth and ultimate meat quality differently. Therefore, understanding how muscle development is regulated will help us better delineate why meat quality varies with genotype. Another area is to identify proteins that are responsible for inferior meat quality. In particular, we believe that one of the muscle proteins has inferior processing abilities during the transformation of muscle to meat. Studies have been designed to understand the expression and functionality of this gene product. The last area of emphasis is development of technology that will enable the meat industry to objectively identify adverse meat quality. Our immediate efforts involve the development of image processing capabilities that work on-line.

Research Techniques

• Immunocytochemistry
• Fluorescent microscopy
• Molecular biology techniques
• Image processing
• Protein chemistry

Selected Publications

Fetal Growth and Development

Gerrard, D.E. and M.D. Judge. 1993. Induction of myoblast proliferation in L6 myoblast cultures by fetal serum of double muscled and normal cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 71:1464-1470.

Listrat, A., D.E. Gerrard, N. Boulle, A. Groyer and J. Robelin. 1994. In situ localization of muscle insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA in developing bovine fetuses. J. Endocrinol. 140:179-187.

Gerrard, D.E. and A.L. Grant. 1994. Insulin-like growth factor-II expression in developing skeletal muscle of double-muscled and normal cattle. Dom. Anim. Endo. 11:339-347.

Sterle, J.A.,T.C. Cantley, W.R. Lamberson, M.C. Lucy, D.E. Gerrard, R.L. Matteri and B.N. Day. 1995. Effects of recombinant porcine somatotropin on placenta size, fetal growth and IGF-I and IGF-II concentrations in pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 73:2980-2985.

Gerrard, D.E., A.L. Grant, D.B. Anderson, R.P. Lemenager and M.D. Judge. 1995. In-vivo analysis of serum-borne growth factors in developing co-twinned fetuses. J. Anim. Sci. 73:1689-1693.

Gerrard, D.E., C.S. Okamura, M.A. Ranalletta and A.L. Grant. 1998. Developmental expression and location of IGF-I and IGF-II mRNA and protein in skeletal muscle. J. Anim. Sci. 76:1004-1011.

Ji., S., R.L. Losinski, S.G. Cornelius, G.R. Frank, G.M. Willis, D.E. Gerrard, F.F. Depreux and M.E. Spurlock. 1998. Myostatin expression in porcine tissues: tissue ontogeny and developmental and postnatal regulation. Amer. J. Physiol. 275:R1265-1273.

Sterle, J.A., C.K. Boyd, J.T. Peacock, A.T. Koenigsfeld, W.R. Lamberson, D.E. Gerrard and M.C. Lucy. 1998. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) -I, IGF-II, IGF binding protein-2 and pregnancy-associated glycoprotein mRNA in pigs with somatotropin-enhanced fetal growth. J. Endocrinol. 159:441-450.

Gerrard, D.E., C.S. Okamura and A.L. Grant. 1999. Expression and location of IGF binding proteins-2, -4, and -5 in developing fetal tissues. J. Anim. Sci. 77:1431-1441.

Greenwood, P.L., Y.R. Boisclair, R.A. Ehrhardt, D.E. Gerrard and K.L. Houseknecht. 1999. Nutritional regulation of gene expression and animal development. Recent Advances in Nutrition in Australia 12:1-12.

Postnatal Muscle Growth

Lefaucheur, L.M., R.K. Hoffman, C.S. Okamura, D.E. Gerrard, J.J. Leger, N.A. Rubinstein and A.M. Kelly. 1997. Transitory expression of alpha cardiac myosin heavy chain in subpopulation of secondary generation muscle fibers in the pig. Dev. Dynamics. 210:106-116.

Moloney, A.P., Beermann, D.H., D.E. Gerrard, T.F. Robinson and K.D. Finnerty. 1998. Temporal change in skeletal muscle IGF-I mRNA abundance and nitrogen metabolism responses to abomasal casein infusion in steers. J. Anim. Sci. 76:1380-1388.

Taylor-Roth, J.L., P.V. Malven, D.E. Gerrard, S.E. Mills and A.L. Grant. 1998. Independent effects of food intake and insulin status on insulin-like growth factor-I in young pigs. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. Part C 120:357-363.

Reecy, J.M., C.A. Bidwell, O.M. Andrisani, D.E. Gerrard and A.L. Grant. 1998. Multiple regions of the porcine alpha-skeletal actin gene modulate muscle-specific expression in cell culture and directly injected skeletal muscle. Anim. Biotech. 9:101-120.

Lefaucheur, L., R.K. Hoffman, D.E. Gerrard, C.S. Okamura, N. Rubinstein and A. Kelly. 1998. Evidence for three adult fast myosin heavy chain isoforms in type II skeletal muscle fibers in pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 76:1584-1593.

Grant, A.L. and D.E. Gerrard. 1998. Cellular and molecular approaches for altering muscle growth and development. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 78:493-502.

Blanton, J.R., C.A. Bidwell, D.A. Sanders, C.M. Sharkey, D.C. McFarland, D.E. Gerrard and A.L. Grant. 2000. Plasmid transfection and retroviral transduction of porcine muscle cells for cell-mediated gene transfer. J. Anim. Sci. 78:909-918.

Brandstetter, A.M., M.W. Pfaffl, J.F. Hocquette, D.E. Gerrard, B. Picard, Y. Geay and H. Sauerwein. 2000. Effects of muscle type, castration, age and compensatory growth rate on androgen receptor mRNA expression in bovine skeletal muscles. J. Anim. Sci. 78:629-637.

Reichel, C., A.L. Grant, R.S. Everett, C.A. Bidwell and D.E. Gerrard. 2000. Epitope-tagged IGF-I expression in muscle. Dom. Anim. Endo. 18:337-348.

Everett, R., D.E. Gerrard and A.L. Grant. 2000. Factors affecting production of luciferase and epitope-tagged IGF-I in porcine muscle after DNA injection. J. Endocrinol. 166:255-263.

Depreux, F.F.S., C.S. Okamura, D.R Swartz, A.L Grant, A.M. Brandstetter and D.E. Gerrard. 2000. Quantification of myosin heavy chain isoform content in porcine muscle using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Meat Sci. 56:261-269.

Lefaucheur, L. and D.E. Gerrard. 1998. Muscle fiber plasticity in domestic mammals. Proc. Amer. Soc. Anim. Sci.

Blanton, J.R., J.P. Robinson, D.E. Gerrard, C.A. Bidwell and A.L. Grant. 2000. Rapid purification of transfected porcine muscle cells. Methods in Cell Sci. (In Press).

Short, R.E., M.D. MacNeil, M.D. Grosz, D.E. Gerrard and E.E. Grings. Pleiotropic effects in hereford, limousin, and piedmontese F2 crossbred calves of genes controlling muscularity including the piedmontese myostatin allele. J. Anim. Sci.

Meat Science

Gwartney, B.L., X. Gao, J. Tan and D.E. Gerrard. 1996. Efficacy of using image processing for determining the fat content of ground beef. J. Muscle Foods 7:441-452.

Gerrard, D.E., X. Gao and J. Tan. 1996. Determining beef marbling and color scores with image processing. J. Food Sci. 61:145-151.

Demos, B. P., D.E. Gerrard, X. Gao, J. Tan and R. Mandigo. 1996. Use of image processing to quantitate surface metmyoglobin on fresh beef. Meat Sci. 43:265-274.

Demos, B.P., D.E. Gerrard, X. Gao, J. Tan and R. Mandigo. 1996. Color stability of ground beef patties manufactured with mechanically recovered neckbone lean and ascorbate. J. Food Sci. 61: 656-659.

Tam, L.G., E.P. Berg, D.E. Gerrard, E.B. Sheiss, F.J. Tan, M.R. Okos and J.C. Forrest. 1997. Effect of halothane genotype on porcine meat quality and myoglobin auto-oxidation. Meat Sci. 49:41-53.

Wong, E. R.H. Linton and D.E. Gerrard. 1998. Reduction of Escherichia coli and Salmonella seftenberg on fresh pork using ultraviolet light. Food Micro. 15:415-423.

Wynveen, E.J., B.C. Bowker, A.L. Grant, B.P. Demos and D.E. Gerrard. 1999. Effects of muscle pH and chilling on development of PSE-like turkey breast meat. British Poul. Sci. 40:253-256.

Tan, J., X. Gao, and D.E. Gerrard. 1999. Application of fuzzy sets and neural network in sensory analysis. J. Sensory Sci. 14:119-139.

Bowker, B.C., E.J. Wynveen, A.L. Grant and D.E. Gerrard. 1999. Effects of electrical stimulation on early postmortem muscle pH and temperature declines in pigs from different genetic lines and halothane genotypes. Meat Science 53:125-133.

Lu, J., J. Tan, P. Shatadal and D.E. Gerrard. 2000. Evaluation of pork color by using computer vision. Meat Sci. 56:57-60.

Tan, F.J., M.T. Morgan, L.I. Ludas, J.C. Forrest and D.E. Gerrard. 2000. Assessment of fresh pork color with machine vision. J. Anim. Sci. 78:3078-3085.

Bowker, B.C., A.L. Grant, J.C. Forrest and D.E. Gerrard. 2000. Muscle biology and pork quality. Proc. Amer. Soc. Anim. Sci.

Wynveen, E.J., B.C. Bowker, A.L. Grant, L. Henson and D.E. Gerrard. 2001. Ability of early postmortem phosphate injection to inhibit PSE development. J. Food Sci. (In Press).