Developmental Characteristics of Skeletal Muscle during the Embryonic Stage in Chinese Yellow Quail ().

The quail is an important research model, and the demand for quail meat has been increasing in recent years; therefore, it is worthwhile investigating the development of embryonic skeletal muscle and the expression patterns of regulatory genes. In this study, the expression of and in the breast muscle () and leg muscle () of quail embryos on days 10 through 17 were determined using qRT-PCR. Paraffin sections of embryonic muscle were analyzed to characterize changes over time. Results showed that and were expressed in both breast and leg muscles and played a significant role in embryonic muscle development. Compared to breast muscle, leg muscle grew faster and had greater weight and myofiber size. The findings suggested that embryonic day 12 (E12) may be a key point for muscle development. Correlation analysis showed that expression was significantly negatively correlated with muscle and embryo weight, whereas gene expression had no significant correlation with these characteristics. These fundamental results provide a theoretical basis for understanding the characteristics and transition points of skeletal muscle development in quail embryos and an important reference for farmers raising quail from eggs.