To explore the effect of MYOZ1 in the muscle growth and development of meat ducks, MYOZ1 single-nucleotide polymorphism loci were screened at the DNA level in the meat duck population with highest and lowest feed conversion rates. The expression of MYOZ1 was detected using reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The protein expression of MYOZ1 was detected using Western blotting at the protein level. The results showed that there was a base mutation site at 30 bp and 158 bp in the fourth exon of MYOZ1, which was mutated from C to T (exon4 C30T) and from G to A (exon4 G158A), respectively. The allele frequency of the locus was significantly different between the high and low feed conversion rate groups (p < 0.01). The relative expression of MYOZ1 mRNA in breast muscle tissue of HF ducks was significantly higher than that of LF ducks (p < 0.01). The MYOZ1 protein expression of HF ducks was significantly higher than that of LF ducks (p < 0.01). In general, MYOZ1 has a positive regulatory effect on the muscle growth and development of meat ducks. The results of this study lay a certain theoretical basis for the muscle growth and development of meat ducks.
Keywords: MYOZ1; feed conversion ratio; meat duck; muscle growth and development; protein expression; single nucleotide polymorphism.