Myostatin-like gene: A potential target for gene silencing in giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii / Sarasvathi Easwvaran
Macrobrachium rosenbergii is commonly known as the ‘giant freshwater prawn’, a commercially important cultivable food species of South and Southeast Asia. Growth retardation and diseases hindering growth are few of the important constrains faced by Macrobrachium rosenbergii (Mr), thus highlightin...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
2016
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8256/1/All.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8256/6/sarasvathi.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8256/ |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Institution: | Universiti Malaya |
| Summary: | Macrobrachium rosenbergii is commonly known as the ‘giant freshwater prawn’, a
commercially important cultivable food species of South and Southeast Asia. Growth
retardation and diseases hindering growth are few of the important constrains faced by
Macrobrachium rosenbergii (Mr), thus highlighting the need of an in-depth study on the
growth and growth related genes to improvise this species. Myostatin (MSTN) is an
interesting negative growth regulating gene which has been well characterized in
vertebrates but studied very little in invertebrates. Thus there is a need to ascertain its
functional role more precisely in invertebrates specifically crustaceans. The present study
is focused on molecular cloning and characterization of the MSTN gene in M. rosenbergii
(MrMSTN) followed by gene profiling at different life stages and upon IHHNV infection.
It also focuses on further silencing this gene in Giant freshwater prawn, M. rosenbergii
in order to record any histological changes. In addition, the study also deals with the
MSTN gene’s influence on other genes of interest related to growth which include myosin
heavy chain, dystrophin-dystroglycan complex, tropomyosin, farnesoic acid O methyl
transferase, arginine kinase, cyclophilin, and acyl CoA desaturase. We have characterized
a full length MrMSTN gene encoding 1619 base pairs (bp) with an open reading frame
of 945 bp that encodes 315 amino acid residues. MrMSTN retains all the conserved
characteristics which belong to the TGF-β superfamily including the propeptide and
mature peptide domain, cysteine residues and a proteolytic cleavage site, RXXR where
“XX” denotes Asparagine and Arginine. The bioinformatic analysis confirmed that
MrMSTN belongs to the TGF-β superfamily and is evolutionarily conserved especially
in the mature peptide domain. MrMSTN gene is ubiquitously expressed in the tested
tissues of healthy adults, with the highest expression observed in the muscle. Moreover,
the MrMSTN transcripts showed significant (P < 0.05) changes at different life stages of M. rosenbergii as well as in infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus
(IHHNV)-challenged prawns. Our histological analysis following the successful
MrMSTN dsRNA gene silencing showed the onset of muscle regeneration, thus
supporting MrMSTN functional role serving as a negative growth regulator, as similar in
vertebrates. Moreover, the MrMSTN also significantly influences the mRNA transcripts
of other growth regulating genes, and this activity coincides with a muscle regeneration
process that takes place. Our findings, illustrated the role of MrMSTN as a negative
growth regulator and its importance in muscle growth and development in M. rosenbergii.
The MrMSTN could therefore be a potential target for gene manipulation aimed at
enhancing the growth and development of M. rosenbergii. In addition it could also be
developed as a biomarker to address the growth deficiency related problems in M.rosenbergii. |
|---|