Abstract:In order to explore the difference in embryonic muscle development between an intermuscular bone (Imb) deficiency mutant and wildtype zebrafish, we used a qRT-PCR method to analyze the expression of 5 muscle-specific genes, including , in the development stages blastula (3 hpf, hours post fertilization), gastrula (6 hpf), segmentation (12 hpf), pharyngula (24 hpf), and hatching period (72 hpf), and discussed the impact of Imb's deficiency on muscle development during embryonic development. Furthermore, the differences in fertilization rate, hatching, and abnormal rate of larvae were assessed. The results showed that the expression of genes were elevated in the gastrula stage, and downregulated in the segmentation and pharyngula stages; the expression levels of in the blastula and gastrula stages were extremely low, and were upregulated significantly in the segmentation and pharyngula stages before being downregulated in the hatching period. The results also showed that there were no significant differences in 5 muscle-specific genes' expression between the wildtype zebrafish and its Imb deficiency mutant. Additionally, no significant difference in fertilization rate, hatching, and abnormal rate occurred between the two Imb phenotypes. In summary, the deletion of Imb do not impact muscle development or the survival of embryos during embryonic development of zebrafish.