MSTN Gene Polymorphism and its Relationships with Growth Performance in Ma Shen Porcine

Myostatin gene (MSTN) is a negative regulator of myogenesis which is related to total lean meat yield. A total of 339 individuals of three breeds were used to analyzed polymorphisms by the Polymerase Chain Reacton Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) method in the 5'-promoter region of MSTN. This study analyzed the relationship of mutation with the growth traits including Weight at Birth (WB) and Weaning Weight (WW) in Ma Shen swine breeds. Two alleles (A and B) and three genotypes (AA, AB and BB) were identified in MSTN promoter region of Ma Shen swine. The result showed that WB of individuals with genotype BB was significant higher than that with genotype AA and AB (p<0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in WW (p>0.05) among MSTN variation.