Myostatin gene (MSTN) polymorphism with a negative effect on meat productivity in Dzhalginsky Merino sheep breed

One of the most important negative regulator of muscle grow in mammalians is myostatin. Some mutations in myostatin gene (MSTN) can decrease the effect of protein and play role in meat quality of sheep. Therefore, in genome selection, knowledge of MSTN gene structure is very important. We investigated the polymorphism of the MSTN gene and its influence on body parameters in Russian sheep breed Dzhalginsky Merino. To detect alleles, we use NimbleGen sequencing technolog). In this breed, we found 20 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). That is SNP in promoter: с.-1866, с.-1404, с.-1401, с.-1213, с.-1128, с.-958, с.-783; 5'UTR: с.-40; exon I: с.101; intron 1-2: c.373+18, c.373+241, c.373+243, c.373+259, c.373+563; intron 2-3: с.747+164, с.747+309, с.748-810, с.748-229G>A, с.748-475; 3'UTR: с.*1232. Three of detected SNP (c.-1128, c.-958, c.-40) have a negative effect on the body parameters – decrease weight, height and other. Other three SNP (c.101, c.373+18, с.*1232) have not significant influence on this parameters. Our investigation is a base of next research of affection of different MSTN gene alleles on meat quality and can be used to prepare a PCR test-system for genomic selection