Myostatin gene sequencing and its association with growth performance of Maghrabi camel breed

Abstract EN

Twenty-three (11 dams and 12 of their offspring; 7 males and 5 females) Maghrabi camels (Camelus dromedaries) belonging to Camel Research Station, Matrouh, Agricultural Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt were used to study growth performances (birth BW, weaning WW, yearling YW weights, average daily gain from birth to weaning ADG1 and average daily gain from weaning to yearling ADG2) and to identify the myostatin gene in the second exon polymorphism.

The sequence of the myostatin gene was done using heterologous oligonucleotide primers designed from the publicly available sequence of the myostatin gene (NCBI GenBank).

Results showed that the average BW (28.9 and 26.3 kg), WW (99.6 and 77 kg), YW (152.3 and 116.5 kg), ADG1 (392.7 and 281.5 g/day) and ADG2 (342.6 and 250.4 g/day) for males and females, respectively.

While, phenotypic correlation coefficients between weaning and yearling weights were positive and highly significant (p<0.01) with an estimate of 0.973.

Results of this study showed no polymorphism in the 230 bp region of the second exon of the myostatin gene.

Thus, there was no relation between myostatin gene sequence and growth performance of Maghrabi camels.

Therefore, a complete sequence of the myostatin gene and its relationship with muscle hypertrophy mechanism are needed to be used in genetic improvement programs in Maghrabi camels.