Myostatin (MSTN) Gene Indel Variation and Its Associations with Body Traits in Shaanbei White Cashmere Goat.
Yi Bi, Bo Feng, Zhen Wang, Haijing Zhu, Lei Qu, Xianyong Lan, Chuanying Pan, Xiaoyue Song
Author Information
Yi Bi: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Bo Feng: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Zhen Wang: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Haijing Zhu: Shaanxi Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Center of Cashmere Goats, Yulin University, Yulin 719000, China.
Lei Qu: Shaanxi Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Center of Cashmere Goats, Yulin University, Yulin 719000, China.
Xianyong Lan: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Chuanying Pan: Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Xiaoyue Song: Shaanxi Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Center of Cashmere Goats, Yulin University, Yulin 719000, China.
Myostatin () gene, also known as growth differentiation factor 8 (), is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta super-family and plays a negative role in muscle development. It acts as key points during pre- and post-natal life of amniotes that ultimately determine the overall muscle mass of animals. There are several studies that concentrate on the effect of a 5 bp insertion/deletion (indel) within the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of goat gene in goats. However, almost all sample sizes were below 150 individuals. Only in Boer goats, the sample sizes reached 482. Hence, whether the 5 bp indel was still associated with the growth traits of goats in large sample sizes which were more reliable is not clear. To find an effective and dependable DNA marker for goat rearing, we first enlarged the sample sizes (n = 1074, Shaanbei White Cashmere goat) which would enhance the robustness of the analysis and did the association analyses between the 5 bp indel and growth traits. Results uncovered that the 5 bp indel was significantly related to body height, height at hip cross, and chest width index ( < 0.05). In addition, individuals with DD genotype had a superior growing performance than those with the ID genotype. These findings suggested that the 5 bp indel in gene are significantly associated with growth traits and the specific genotype might be promising for maker-assisted selection (MAS) of goats.
