Zebrafish as a unique model system in bone research: the power of genetics and in vivo imaging

For many years bone research has been mainly performed in mice, chicken, cell culture systems or human material from the clinic. In this review, we describe the features of zebrafish (Danio rerio), a relatively new model system in this field. This small teleost offers possibilities which make it a great complement to the mouse: forward genetic screens are possible in fish due to extrauterine development and large brood size, and the recent generation of osteoblast-specific reporter lines allows visualization of osteoblasts in vivo. As key regulators of bone formation are highly conserved between mammals and teleosts, findings in fish likely apply to mammalian osteogenesis and tissue mineralization.