Molecular cloning and characterization of different expression of MYOZ2 and MYOZ3 in Tianfu goat

The myozenin family of proteins binds calcineurin, which is involved in myocyte differentiation of skeletal muscle. Moreover, gene expression of myozenin is closely related to meat quality. To further understand the functions and effects of myozenin2 (MYOZ2) and myozenin3 (MYOZ3) genes in goat, we cloned them from Tianfu goat longissimus dorsi muscle. Sequence analyses revealed that full-length coding sequence of MYOZ2 consisted of 795 bp and encoded 264 amino acids, and full-length coding sequence of MYOZ3 consisted of 735 bp and encoded 244 amino acids. RT-qPCR analyses revealed that mRNA expressions of MYOZ2 and MYOZ3 were detected in heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, leg muscle, abdominal muscle, and longissimus dorsi muscle. Particularly high expression levels of MYOZ2 were seen in abdominal muscle and heart (P<0.01), low expression levels were seen in leg muscle (P<0.01), longissimus dorsi muscle (P>0.05) and very little expression were detected in liver, spleen, lung and kidney (P>0.05). In addition, high expression levels of MYOZ3 were seen in abdominal muscle, leg muscle, lungs and kidney (P<0.01), low expression levels were found in longissimus dorsi muscle and spleen (P<0.01) and very little expression were detected in heart and liver (P>0.05). Temporal mRNA expression results showed that MYOZ2 and MYOZ3 gene expression varied across four muscle tissues with different ages of the goats. Western blotting further revealed that MYOZ2 and MYOZ3 proteins were only expressed in goat muscle, with notable temporal expression differences in specialized muscle tissues from five development age stages. This work provides the first evidence that MYOZ2 and MYOZ3 genes are expressed abundantly in Tianfu goat muscle tissues from different development age stages, and lay a foundation for understanding the functions of MYOZ2 and MYOZ3 genes in muscle fiber differentiation.