Identification of two variants of troponin T in the developing chicken heart using a monoclonal antibody

Integrating genome and transcriptome profiling for elucidating the mechanism of muscle growth and lipid deposition in Pekin ducks

Muscle growth and lipid deposition are co-ordinately regulated processes. Cherry Valley Pekin duck is a lean-type duck breed with high growth rate, whereas the native Pekin duck of China has high lipid deposition. Phenotypic analysis showed that native Pekin ducks have smaller fibre diameter and larger density in the breast muscle at 3 weeks of age and higher intramuscular fat content at 6 weeks of age than those in Cherry Valley Pekin ducks. We detected 17 positively selected genes (PSGs) by comparing genes mainly involved with muscle organ development, muscle contraction, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor signalling pathway, and fatty acid metabolism. In all, 52 and 206 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in transcriptomic comparisons between the two breeds at 3 and 6 weeks of age, respectively, which could potentially affect muscle growth and lipid deposition. Based on the integration of PSGs and DEGs and their functional annotations, we found that 11 and 10 genes were correlated with muscle growth and lipid deposition, respectively. Identification of candidate genes controlling quantitative traits of duck muscle might aid in elucidating the mechanisms of muscle growth and lipid deposition and could help in improving duck breeding.

Transcriptional profiling identifies differentially expressed genes in developing turkey skeletal muscle

Background

Skeletal muscle growth and development from embryo to adult consists of a series of carefully regulated changes in gene expression. Understanding these developmental changes in agriculturally important species is essential to the production of high quality meat products. For example, consumer demand for lean, inexpensive meat products has driven the turkey industry to unprecedented production through intensive genetic selection. However, achievements of increased body weight and muscle mass have been countered by an increased incidence of myopathies and meat quality defects. In a previous study, we developed and validated a turkey skeletal muscle-specific microarray as a tool for functional genomics studies. The goals of the current study were to utilize this microarray to elucidate functional pathways of genes responsible for key events in turkey skeletal muscle development and to compare differences in gene expression between two genetic lines of turkeys. To achieve these goals, skeletal muscle samples were collected at three critical stages in muscle development: 18d embryo (hyperplasia), 1d post-hatch (shift from myoblast-mediated growth to satellite cell-modulated growth by hypertrophy), and 16wk (market age) from two genetic lines: a randombred control line (RBC2) maintained without selection pressure, and a line (F) selected from the RBC2 line for increased 16wk body weight. Array hybridizations were performed in two experiments: Experiment 1 directly compared the developmental stages within genetic line, while Experiment 2 directly compared the two lines within each developmental stage.

Results

A total of 3474 genes were differentially expressed (false discovery rate; FDR < 0.001) by overall effect of development, while 16 genes were differentially expressed (FDR < 0.10) by overall effect of genetic line. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis was used to group annotated genes into networks, functions, and canonical pathways. The expression of 28 genes involved in extracellular matrix regulation, cell death/apoptosis, and calcium signaling/muscle function, as well as genes with miscellaneous function was confirmed by qPCR.

Conclusions

The current study identified gene pathways and uncovered novel genes important in turkey muscle growth and development. Future experiments will focus further on several of these candidate genes and the expression and mechanism of action of their protein products.

Developmental changes of cardiac and slow skeletal muscle troponin T expression in chicken cardiac and skeletal muscles

Numerous troponin T (TnT) isoforms are produced by alternative splicing from three genes characteristic of cardiac, fast skeletal, and slow skeletal muscles. Apart from the developmental transition of fast skeletal muscle TnT isoforms, switching of TnT expression during muscle development is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated precisely and comprehensively developmental changes in chicken cardiac and slow skeletal muscle TnT isoforms by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting with specific antisera. Four major isoforms composed of two each of higher and lower molecular weights were found in cardiac TnT (cTnT). Expression of cTnT changed from high- to low-molecular-weight isoforms during cardiac muscle development. On the other hand, such a transition was not found and only high-molecular-weight isoforms were expressed in the early stages of chicken skeletal muscle development. Two major and three minor isoforms of slow skeletal muscle TnT (sTnT), three of which were newly found in this study, were expressed in chicken skeletal muscles. The major sTnT isoforms were commonly detected throughout development in slow and mixed skeletal muscles, and at developmental stages until hatching-out in fast skeletal muscles. The expression of minor sTnT isoforms varied from muscle to muscle and during development.

Role of troponin I isoform switching in determining the pH sensitivity of Ca(2+) regulation in developing rabbit cardiac muscle

Skinned muscle fibers prepared from fetal rabbit heart (28 days of gestation) showed a marked resistance to acidic pH in the Ca(2+) regulation of force generation, compared to the fibers prepared from adult heart. SDS-PAGE and immunoblot analysis showed that the slow skeletal troponin I was predominantly expressed in the fetal cardiac muscle, while the cardiac isoform was predominantly expressed in the adult cardiac muscle. Direct exchange of purified slow skeletal and cardiac troponin I isoforms into these skinned muscle fibers revealed that cardiac troponin I made the Ca(2+) regulation of contraction sensitive to acidic pH just as in the adult fibers, whereas slow skeletal troponin I made the Ca(2+) regulation of contraction resistant to acidic pH just as in the fetal fibers. These results demonstrate that the troponin I isoform switching accounts fully for the change in the pH dependence of Ca(2+) regulation of contraction in developmental cardiac muscle.

Complete primary structure of chicken cardiac C-protein (MyBP-C) and its expression in developing striated muscles

C-protein (MyBP-C) is a myosin binding protein of about 140 kDa which is known to modulate myosin assembly in striated muscles. A cardiac-type isoform of C-protein appears not only in cardiac muscle but also in skeletal muscle before skeletal muscle-type isoforms become detectable during myogenesis, suggesting that the cardiac isoform is involved in the early phase of myofibrillogenesis (Bähler et al., 1985; Kawashima et al., 1986). In this study, in order to understand the structure and functional domains of the cardiac-type C-protein, we cloned and sequenced full-length cDNAs encoding chicken cardiac C-protein from lambda gt11 cDNA libraries which were prepared with poly (A)+ RNA from embryonic chicken cardiac muscle as well as embryonic chicken skeletal muscle by using antibodies specific for cardiac C-protein. Two cDNA variants, probably generated by alternative RNA splicing and encoding different C-protein isoforms, were detected. As judged by the cDNA sequences determined, overall homology of the peptide sequence between cardiac and skeletal muscle C-proteins (Einheber et al., 1990; Fürst et al., 1992, Weber et al., 1994) was about 50-55%. Like other myosin binding proteins, skeletal C-proteins, 86 kDa protein and M-protein, cardiac C-protein contains several copies of fibronectin type III motifs and immunoglobulin C2 motifs in the molecule, but their number and arrangements differed somewhat from those in the other proteins. Northern blot analysis with the cloned cDNA as a probe demonstrated that mRNA of 5.0 kb is transcribed in both cardiac and embryonic skeletal muscle, and that it is specifically expressed in cardiac muscle among adult tissues.

Cross-reactivity of an antineurofilament antibody with a troponin-T isoform

Histochemical examination has revealed that a monoclonal antibody raised against the 200-kilodalton (kd) subunit of neurofilament reacts not only with neural tissue but with type 1 and type 2C fibers of skeletal muscle. To identify the cross-reactive substance(s), rat soleus muscle, which includes type 1 and type 2C fibers, was separated into a soluble fraction and an insoluble myofibrillar fraction. Western blot analysis demonstrated that the antibody reacted with 30-kd and 36-kd polypeptides in the soluble fraction and with a 38-kd polypeptide in the insoluble fraction. We isolated a fraction that contained the 38-kd polypeptide from the insoluble fraction. The material in this fraction bound to F-actin. Two-dimensional electrophoresis of the fraction showed that the 38-kd polypeptide was part of the group of isoforms of troponin-T, which was identified by a monoclonal antibody developed against troponin-T. Thus, we conclude that this antineurofilament antibody recognizes one of the isoforms of troponin-T in type 1 and type 2C fibers.