Identification of genes related to skeletal muscle growth and development by integrated analysis of transcriptome and proteome in myostatin-edited Meishan pigs

Embryonic development of skeletal muscle is a complex process that is important to the growth of skeletal muscle after birth. However, the mechanisms by which skeletal muscle growth and development in embryonic phase remain unclear. We have previously produced myostatin-knockout (MKO) Meishan pigs with double-muscle (DM) phenotype via zinc finger nucleases (ZFN) technology. To further investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in skeletal muscle growth and development, in this study, we performed an integrated analysis of transcriptome and proteome in longissimus dorsi muscle from myostatin wild type (MWT) and MKO pigs on 65 days post coitus. Results showed that, compared with MWT group, there were 438 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 66 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in MKO group. These DEGs and DEPs were mainly enriched in signaling pathways that are involved in skeletal muscle growth and development, glucose metabolism and apoptosis. Furthermore, we identified two key genes, Troponin T1 (TNNT1) and Myosin regulatory light chain 9 (MYL9), which showed significant changes in both mRNA and protein levels with the similar changing trends in MKO group. It is thus speculated that TNNT1 and MYL9 may play an important role in skeletal muscle growth and development. Significance: Our study analyzed some important regulatory genes and proteins during skeletal muscle growth and development, our results provided (1) a new insight to further understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which growth and development are regulated in porcine skeletal muscle, and (2) some possible molecular makers for improvement of meat quality in the animal husbandry and diagnosis of human muscle diseases in medicine.