Increased Muscle Mass by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing in Quail Myostatin

Research poster
Joonbum Lee
Category: 
PhD
Advisor: 
Kichoon Lee
Department: 
Department of Animal Sciences
Abstract: 

Mutation in myostatin (MSTN), a negative regulator of muscle growth in skeletal muscle, resulted in increased muscle mass in various species including human. However, MSTN mutation in avian species has not been reported. The objective of this study was to generate MSTN mutation in quail and investigate the effect of MSTN mutation in avian muscle growth. By injecting the recombinant adenovirus containing CRISPR/Cas9 into the quail blastoderm, potential germline chimeras were generated and offspring with three base-pair deletion in the targeted region of the MSTN gene was identified. This non-frameshift mutation in MSTN resulted in deletion of cysteine 42 in the MSTN protein and homozygous mutant quail showed significantly increased body weight and muscle mass with muscle hyperplasia compared to heterozygous mutant and wild-type quail. In addition, decreased fat pad weight and increased heart weight were observed in MSTN mutant quail in a sex-dependent manner. Taken together, these data indicate anti-myogenic function of MSTN in the avian species and the importance of cysteine 42 in regulating MSTN function.