title: The myostatin gene of Mytilus chilensis evidences a high level of polymorphism and ubiquitous transcript expression.
abstract: Myostatin (MSTN) is a protein of the Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily and plays a crucial role in muscular development for higher vertebrates. However, its biological function in marine invertebrates remains undiscovered. This study characterizes the full-length sequence of the Mytilus chilensis myostatin gene (Mc-MSTN). Furthermore, tissue transcription patterns and putative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were also identified. The Mc-MSTN cDNA sequence showed 3528 base pairs (bp), consisting of 161 bp of 5' UTR, 2,110 bp of 3' UTR, and an open reading frame of 1,257 bp encoding for 418 amino acids and with an RXXR proteolytic site and nine cysteine-conserved residues. Gene transcription analysis revealed that the Mc-MSTN has ubiquitous expression among several tissues, with higher expression in the gonads and mantle than in the digestive gland, gills, and hemolymph. Furthermore, high levels of polymorphisms were detected (28 SNPs in 3'-UTR and 9 SNPs in the coding region). Two SNPs were non-synonymous and involved amino acid changes between Glu/Asp and Thr/Ile. Until now, the MSTN gene has been mainly related to muscle growth in marine bivalves. However, the present study suggests a putative biological function not entirely associated to muscle tissue and contributes molecular evidence to the current debate about the function of the MSTN gene in marine invertebrates.
authors: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, PO Box 160-C, Concepcion, Chile.
authors: Gustavo
authors: G
authors: Núñez-Acuña
authors: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, PO Box 160-C, Concepcion, Chile. Electronic address: crisgallardo@udec.cl.
authors: Cristian
authors: C
authors: Gallardo-Escárate
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D055435:Myostatin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D049878:Mytilus / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D055435:Myostatin; C026908:ubiquitous tissue antigen
keywords: GDF-8; MSTN; Mc-MSTN; Muscle; Myostatin; Mytilus chilensis; Mytilus chilensis myostatin; ORF; RACE; RNA sequencing; RNA-seq; SNPs; TGF-β; Transforming Growth Factor-β; UTR; base pairs; bp; growth differentiation factor 8; mRNA; messenger RNA; myostatin; open reading frame; qPCR; rapid amplification of cDNA ends; single nucleotide polymorphisms; untranslated region