Molecular characterization of myostatin gene in Malpura sheep of Rajasthan

摘要

Objective of study was to characterize the complete sequence of Myostatin (MSTN) gene in Malpura sheep and to study its genetic variability across population. This study is the first ever report of complete Myostatin gene characterization among the Indian sheep breeds. MSTN (GDF-8) is found to be a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth which is responsible for double muscling. The MSTN gene sequence was partitioned in 18 different overlapping fragments (P1 to P18). We obtained a sequence of 8002 bp (MH025940) for complete MSTN gene. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that MSTN gene of Malpura sheep breed is in close relation with that of Texel sheep and far related to pig. A total of 16 nucleotide substitutions were identified, revealing rich genetic diversity. Out of these 16 substitutions, none was observed in exonic region, 2 were observed to be present at promoter, 3 in the 5'UTR, 6 in intron-1, 1 in intron-2 and 4 in 3'UTR. Two substitutions c.373+1189 A or G and c.*202 A or G were found in intron-1 and 3′UTR, respectively and were new. The putative mutation for double muscling in sheep (c.*1232A) was not present in Malpura population (c.*12132G).