Technical Abstract: Biochemical and biophysical research tools have been used to define the developmentaldynamics of numerous cell lineages from a variety of tissues relevant to meat quality. With respect to the adipose cell lineage, much of our present understanding of adipogenesis and lipid metabolism was initially determined through the use of these methods, even though the in vitro or molecular environments are far removed from the tissues of meat animals. This minireview focuses on recent cellular and molecular biology-related research with adipocytes, and how the research might be extended to the end-point of altering red meat quality.