| Summary: | Myostatin (<i>MSTN</i>), a member of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, inhibits the activation of muscle satellite cells. However, the role and regulatory network of <i>MSTN</i> in equine muscle cells are not well understood yet. We discovered that <i>MSTN</i> knockdown significantly reduces the proliferation rate of equine muscle satellite cells. In addition, after the RNA sequencing of equine satellite cells transfected with <i>MSTN</i>-interference plasmid and control plasmid, an analysis of the differentially expressed genes was carried out. It was revealed that <i>MSTN</i> regulatory networks mainly involve genes related to muscle function and cell-cycle regulation, and signaling pathways, such as Notch, MAPK, and WNT. Subsequent real-time PCR in equine satellite cells and immunohistochemistry on newborn and adult muscle also verified the <i>MSTN</i> regulatory network found in RNA sequencing analysis. The results of this study provide new insight into the regulatory mechanism of equine <i>MSTN</i>.
|
|---|