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Subcellular localization, expression patterns, SNPs and association analyses of the porcine HUMMLC2B gene

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Abstract

Myosin regulatory light chain (MLC) regulates myofilament activation via phosphorylation by Ca2+ dependant myosin light chain kinase. In order to further understand the functions of the porcine fast myosin regulatory light chain gene (HUMMLC2B) in muscle, the subcellular localization, the temporal and spatial distributions of its gene product were analyzed, and the association between the presence of specific polymorphisms and commercial meat traits in pig was also examined. HUMMLC2B was demonstrated to localize both in the cytoplasm and the nucleus by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Real-time PCR further revealed HUMMLC2B expression variation in a waveform manner in the skeletal muscle of both Chinese Tongcheng and Western Landrace pig breeds at days 33, 65 and 90 post coitum (pc). After birth, the expression levels of HUMMLC2B were also found to decrease gradually with age. Our spatial expression analysis showed that HUMMLC2B was highly expressed in the semitendinosus, gastrocnemius, biceps femoris and longissimus dorsi muscles. In contrast, only low levels of expression of this gene were evident in fat, and no expression was detectable in brain, heart, kidney, lung, liver, lymph node, spleen, stomach, or in either large or small intestine. A total of 23 potential polymorphisms, comprising 3 exonic and 20 intronic, were detectable in the porcine HUMMLC2B gene and the G1094A, T1513C, G1876A and T2005G polymorphisms were further analyzed. The significant associations between the T1513C, G1876A and T2005G polymorphisms with marbling score, dressing percent and meat color, respectively, were identified (P < 0.05). Associations with the percentage of leaf fat could also be demonstrated by analysis of haplotypes harboring these three polymorphisms. Our current results thus shed further light on the roles and functions of the HUMMLC2B gene in muscle.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof Max F Rothschild of Iowa State University, USA, for revising the manuscript. This research was supported by the National 10th Five Year Scientific Project of China for Tackling the Key Problems (2004BA717B), National Natural Science Foundation of China (30571330), Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (30330440), Key Project of Scientific Research Foundation of Ministry of Human Resources of China for Returned Chinese Scholars, the State Platform of Technology Infrastructure (2005DKA21101), National 973 and 863 projects of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gene and Cell Engineering, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100094, People’s Republic of China

    Huan L. Wang, Heng Wang, Zheng M. Zhu, Chen F. Wang, De L. Mo, Shu L. Yang & Kui Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education of China, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Huan L. Wang, Heng Wang, Meng J. Zhu & De L. Mo

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  1. Huan L. Wang
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Correspondence to Kui Li.

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Communicated by S. Hohmann

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Wang, H.L., Wang, H., Zhu, Z.M. et al. Subcellular localization, expression patterns, SNPs and association analyses of the porcine HUMMLC2B gene. Mol Genet Genomics 276, 264–272 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-006-0142-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-006-0142-8

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