Rapid Genotyping of MSTN Gene Polymorphism Using High-resolution Melting for Association Study in Rabbits

The myostatin (MSTN) gene, as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth, has been proposed to be associated with production traits in farm animals. In the present study, a T/C variant at -125 bp (relative to ATG start codon) of 5'regulatory region of rabbit MSTN was identified by direct sequencing. Two hundred and twenty two rabbits, which were randomly sampled from 3 breeds (Ira rabbits, Champagne rabbits and Tianfu black rabbits), were genotyped by high-resolution melting (HRM). Comparing the genotyping results of 47 samples with direct sequencing, the HRM showed high sensitivity (0.96) and high specificity (0.98). In the three rabbit breeds, the allele C was the predominant allele. The polymorphic site showed high heterozygosity (He = 0.48) and high effective number of alleles (Ne = 1.91). The genetic diversity was reasonably informative (0.25