Notch signaling leads to a slower progression of embryonic myogenic differentiation in Landrace than in Langtang pigs

Shufang Cai; Bin Hu; Qi Zhu; Tianqi Duo; Xiaoyu Wang; Xian Tong; Xiaorong Luo; Renqiang Yuan; Yaosheng Chen; Jing Wang; Chenglong Luo; Baosong Xing; Delin Mo

doi:10.3724/abbs.2022095

Notch signaling leads to a slower progression of embryonic myogenic differentiation in Landrace than in Langtang pigs

Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai). 2022 Aug 25;54(8):1122-1132. doi: 10.3724/abbs.2022095.

Authors

Shufang Cai^{1

2}, Bin Hu¹, Qi Zhu², Tianqi Duo², Xiaoyu Wang², Xian Tong², Xiaorong Luo², Renqiang Yuan², Yaosheng Chen², Jing Wang³, Chenglong Luo¹, Baosong Xing³, Delin Mo²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
³ Henan Key Laboratory of Farm Animal Breeding and Nutritional Regulation, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450002, China.

Abstract

Delving into porcine embryonic myogenesis is the key to elucidate the complex regulation of breed-specific differences in growth performance and meat production. Increasing evidence proves that pigs with less meat production show earlier embryonic myogenesis, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we examine the longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) by immunohistochemistry and confirm that the differentiation of myogenic progenitors is increased ( P<0.05) in Lantang (LT, fatty) pigs compared with that in Landrace (LR, lean) pigs, which results in more ( P<0.001) differentiated myoblasts (Pax7 ^-/MyoD ⁺) and less ( P<0.001) myogenic progenitors (Pax7 ⁺/MyoD ^-) in LT pigs at 35 days post-conception (35dpc). Additionally, embryonic myogenic progenitors isolated from LT pigs show greater ( P<0.001) differentiation capacity with earlier expression of MyoD compared with those from LR pigs. Moreover, Notch signaling is more active ( P<0.05) in LR pig myogenic progenitors than in LT pig myogenic progenitors. Inhibition of Notch signaling in LR myogenic progenitors suppresses Pax7 expression and increases MyoD expression, thus promoting myogenic differentiation. Consistently, the process of myogenic progenitors differentiating into myoblasts in ex vivo embryo limbs is accelerated when Notch signaling is inhibited. These results indicate that Notch signaling facilitates the maintenance of myogenic progenitors and antagonizes myogenic differentiation by promoting Pax7 expression and preventing MyoD expression in LR pigs.

Keywords: MyoD; Pax7; differentiation; embryonic myogenesis; myogenic progenitor.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Differentiation
Muscle Development* / physiology
Muscle, Skeletal / metabolism
Myoblasts* / metabolism
Signal Transduction
Swine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32072697), the Key Research and Development Program of Guangxi (No. AB19245030), the Science and Technology Projects of Zhanjiang (No. 2019A01004), Special Fund for Scientific Innovation Strategy Construction of High Level Academy of Agriculture Science (No. R2020PY-JG008), Start-up Research Project of Maoming Laboratory (No. 2021TDOD002), and the Independent Innovation Fund Project in Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Henan Academy of Agricultural Science (No. XMZC202103).