Zebrafish with very weak muscles helped scientists decode
the elusive genetic mutation responsible for Native American myopathy, a rare,
hereditary muscle disease that afflicts Native Americans in North Carolina.
Scientists led by John Kuwada, professor of molecular,
cellular and developmental biology at the University of Michigan, and Hiromi
Hirata of the National Institute of Genetics in Japan originally identified the
gene in mutant zebrafish that exhibited severe muscle weakness. Native American
myopathy causes muscle weakness from birth and other severe problems that can
lead to death before adulthood.