Identification of two novel single nucleotide polymorphism sites in the Myostatin (MSTN) gene and their association with carcass traits in meat-type rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Abstract

Two unknown single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites in exons 1 (c.194C>T) and 2 (c.445T>A) of meat-type rabbit MSTN gene were identified in the study. Our objective was to analyse the population genetics structure of the two novel SNP sites in 230 individuals from six breeds and their associations with carcass traits of rabbits. We found that live body weight (BW), cold carcass weight (CCW), reference carcass weight (RCW), CCW percentage (P_CCW) and RCW percentage (P_RCW) of the rabbits with the genotype CC at the c.194C>T of exon 1 or AA at the c.445T>A of exon 2 were significantly higher than those with other genotypes. Diplotype significantly affected BW, RCW, CCW, P_RCW (P<0.01) and P_CCW and P_CM (P<0.05). CC/AA was the advantageous diplotype for BW, RCW, CCW and P_CM, and TT/AA was the advantageous diplotype for P_CCW and P_RCW. In contrast, TT/TT was the negative diplotype for BW, CCW, RCW, P_CCW and P_RCW, and TT/AA was the negative diplotype for P_CM. The results suggest that the two new mutations of MSTN gene significantly affected BW, CCW, RCW, P_CCW and P_RCW of rabbits, and MSTN may be an important candidate gene of carcass traits in meat-type rabbits.