Research Blog #1 (Individual Post)

The goal of our group’s research is to compare the muscle fiber profiles of the breast and leg meat  of duck, chicken, and turkey samples.

Our hypothesis is that chicken and turkey, who both have light breast meat and dark leg meat, will be more closely related to each other than to the duck based on these traits. Duck breast meat and leg meat, in comparison, are both dark. Dark meat is distinguished from white meat by having higher levels of myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein that binds to oxygen and transports it to the mitochondria, playing an essential role in cellular respiration.

High levels of myoglobin imply that the muscle is slow twitch muscle, which is muscle composed for endurance. Slow twitch muscle is ideal for birds who need to utilize certain parts of their body for flight, like ducks. Terrestrial fowl, such as chicken and turkey, have fast twitch breast muscle, indicated by its lighter color due to far lower levels of myoglobin. The muscle is anaerobic, being fueled by glycogen which provides rapid bursts of energy and exhausting quickly. This correlates with the fact that turkey and chicken do not sustain flight. Based on the shared traits of chicken and turkey, our group’s prediction is that their muscle profiles will show up more similarly on the gel electrophoresis.

Reference:

"UCSB Science Line." UCSB Science Line. The Regents of the University of California, 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.