Developmental transcriptome profiling of bovine muscle tissue reveals an abundant GosB that regulates myoblast proliferation and apoptosis.

Hui Li,Xianyong Lan,Xuefeng Wei,Dong Dong,Yongzhen Huang,Martin Plath,Chuzhao Lei,Xinglei Qi,Yueyu Bai,Jiameng Yang,Hong Chen

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.16644

Abstract

The formation of bovine skeletal muscle involves complex developmental and physiological processes that play a vital role in determining the quality of beef; however, the regulatory mechanisms underlying differences in meat quality are largely unknown. We conducted transcriptome analysis of bovine muscle tissues to compare gene expression profiles between embryonic and adult stages. Total RNAs from skeletal muscle of Qinchuan cattle at fetal and adult stages were used to construct libraries for Illumina next-generation sequencing using the Ribo-Zero RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) method. We found a total of 19,695 genes to be expressed in fetal and adult stages, whereby 3,299 were expressed only in fetal, and 433 only in adult tissues. We characterized the role of a candidate gene (GosB), which was highly (but differentially) expressed in embryonic and adult skeletal muscle tissue. GosB increased the number of myoblasts in the S-phase of the cell cycle, and decreased the proportion of cells in the G0/G1 phase. GosB promoted the proliferation of myoblasts and protected them from apoptosis via regulating Bcl-2 expression and controlling the intracellular calcium concentration. Modulation of GosB expression in muscle tissue may emerge as a potential target in breeding strategies attempting to alter myoblast numbers in cattle.

Highlights

The development and growth of skeletal musclethe primary target of agricultural meat production-is a complex process, and the regulatory mechanisms underlying differences in meat quality are still poorly understood [1, 2]
We found a total of 19,695 genes to be expressed in both the embryo and adult stages, while 3,299 and 433 genes were present only in embryonic and adult stages, respectively (Figure 1b)
We assessed gene expression patterns at two different developmental stages to gain insights into the molecular www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget mechanisms involved in mammalian skeletal muscle development [8] and later focused on the role of GosB in myocyte proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis

Summary

Introduction

The development and growth of skeletal musclethe primary target of agricultural meat production-is a complex process, and the regulatory mechanisms underlying differences in meat quality are still poorly understood [1, 2]. We take a first step to explore developmental genetic mechanisms underlying the remarkably high meat quality of Qinchuan cattle. This breed ranks among the top five Chinese yellow cattle breeds in terms of meat quality with a high muscle fat content [2, 6]. Our study may serve as a starting point for future research programs comparing different breeds or breeding stocks

Methods

Results

Conclusion