Double muscling

Myostatin (GDF8) single nucleotide polymorphisms in Nellore cattle

A. B. Grisolia, D’Angelo, G. T., Neto, L. R. Porto, Siqueira, F., and Garcia, J. F., Myostatin (GDF8) single nucleotide polymorphisms in Nellore cattle, vol. 8, pp. 822-830, 2009.

The myostatin gene, also known as GDF8 (growth dif­ferentiation factor 8), is located on bovine chromosome 2 (BTA2); it has three exons and two introns. Myostatin is specifically expressed during embryonic development and in adult skeletal muscle, func­tioning as a negative regulatory protein. Several cattle breeds (Pied­montese, Belgian Blue and Blond’Aquitaine, and others) show poly­morphisms in this gene; these polymorphisms are directly related to the double muscling phenotype.

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