A 5-bp mutation within MSTN/GDF8 gene was significantly associated with growth traits in Inner Mongolia White Cashmere goats

Abstract

Myostatin (MSTN) gene, also known as growth and differentiation factor 8 (GDF8) gene, is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth and development, especially the number, size and type of muscle fibers. Its mutations contribute to the double-muscling (DBM) phenomenon which significantly increases the muscle mass. Hence, variations within MSTN/GDF8 gene receive so much attention in several kinds of species such as bovines, poultries, goats, sheep, horses. A 5-base pairs (bp) indel in the 5’ untranslated region (5’UTR) of goat MSTN/GDF8 was verified to be significantly associated with growth traits except Inner Mongolia White Cashmere (IMWC) goats. Given that almost all sample sizes were below 150, we enlarged sample sizes to more than 500 to uncover the association between the 5-bp indel and growth traits in IMWC goats. Only two genotypes (deletion/deletion (DD) and insertion/deletion (ID)) were found, and DD genotypes were dominant genotypes. The detected locus displayed low genetic diversity (PIC = 0.090). Interestingly, the association analyses revealed that the 5-bp indel had a significant effect on the chest depth (p = 0.003), and DD genotypes were dominant genotypes. Hinted that the 5-bp indel could act as an effective marker in molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) processes for selection of excellent goat individuals.

Keywords:

• Myostatin (MSTN)
• growth and differentiation factor 8 (GDF8)
• indel
• growth trait
• association
• IMWC goat

Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciated with all the staff at the IMWC goat breeding farm for allowing us to collect samples. And we also thanked for the Agricultural Technical Station of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry of Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, P.R. China, the Life Science Research Core Services (LSRCS) of Northwest A&F University (Northern Campus) supplying the platform to us.

Disclosure statement

There is no conflict of interest with any financial organization for the material discussed in the manuscript. The publication of this manuscript is approved by all authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Shaanxi Provincial Scientific and Technological Innovation Project for Undergraduate of Northwest A&F University [S201910712052], and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31760650].