[Cloning and tissue expression of CAST transcript Ⅱ in goat]

Calpastatin (CAST) gene is closely related with meat quality in livestock and poultry. Based on the bovine and ovine mRNA sequences, the cDNA of CAST Ⅱ gene in goat was amplified successfully for the first time by using RACE-PCR. Results showed that CAST Ⅱ of goat was 2474 bp in length with an open reading frame (ORF) 1695 bp long and encoded 564 amino acids, and there were four conserved domains and one conserved seven-peptide domain in amino acids sequences. Bioinformation analysis indicated that its secondary structures mainly were random coil and helical regions, and contained rich hydrophobic regions, certain phosphorylation sites, and protein kinase C (PKC) sites. Meanwhile, analysis of tissue expression of the gene in Tianfu meat goat demonstrated it was expressed in seven selected tissues. When the goat was of 6-month age, the highest expression was observed in longissimusdorsi, which was significantly higher than that of crureus (P<0.05) and other internal organ tissues (P<0.01).Furthermore, the expression of CAST II increased with the rise of the age and became the highest when the goat was at three-year age.