Nucleotide sequence of myostatin gene and its developmental expression in skeletal muscles of Japanese Black cattle

Myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor‐β superfamily, is a well known negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. In the present study, the 6660 bp nucleotide sequence of the myostatin gene in Japanese Black cattle (JBC), including the entire coding region of 1128 bp, was determined. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence of JBC was well conserved with its sequence of other cattle, although it was found that an Α→G transition at nucleotide position 641 results in the substitution of asparagine by serine at amino acid position 214. In order to examine the expression pattern of the myostatin gene in the skeletal muscles of JBC, its expression in three skeletal muscles, Semitendinosus (ST) muscle, Biceps femoris muscle and Longissimus lumborum muscle, of fetal and calf stages was analyzed by real time polymerase chain reaction. The highest level of the myostatin expression was observed in the fetal stage. In calf stages the highest expression was observed in ST muscle compared with the other two muscles. These results suggest that a higher expression of myostatin gene, especially in the fetal stage and in ST muscle during calf stages, is involved in the arrest in skeletal muscle growth and that its functional domains and genomic structure in JBC are well conserved with those in other mammals.