Muscle growth rate and muscle mass are important economic traits in animal production. Musculoskeletal embryonic nuclear protein 1 (MUSTN1) gene has been implicated in myofusion as well as skeletal muscle growth and repair; however, the exact role and expression of MUSTN1 in different duck breeds are not fully understood. To gain insights into the biological functions of MUSTN1 in skeletal muscle development, the MUSTN1 coding sequence of Pekin ducks (BD) and Cherry Valley ducks (CD) was compared to various other animals using the Editseq in DNAstar and MEGA software. The results showed that the duck had the highest homology with chicken. The RT-qPCR and western blot were performed to estimate the mRNA and protein expression pattern of MUSTN1 in leg muscles of BD and CD at 3 and 6-weeks of age. At 3 weeks of age, the mRNA and protein expression levels of MUSTN1 were significantly higher in BD than in CD (p < 0.05). At 6 weeks, the expression level was higher in BD than in CD. In conclusion, MUSTN1 might play a key role in positive regulation of muscle growth and development of ducks.
Keywords: Growth trait; MUSTN1; characterization; duck; gene expression.