MYOSTATIN MAPS TO THE INTERVAL CONTAINING THE BOVINE MH LOCUS

Myostatin (GDF-8) is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta s uperfamily and plays a role in muscle growth and development. Mice hav ing targeted disruption of this gene display marked increases in muscl e mass, a phenotype similar to the muscular hypertrophy (mh) in severa l cattle breeds. Physical mapping data developed from YAC clones indic ate the bovine myostatin gene lies close to the centromere of bovine C hromosome (Chr) 2 (BTA2) at 2q11, indistinguishable from the cytogenet ic location of the mh locus. In addition, a polymorphism in the second intron of the gene was used to show that myostatin maps within the in terval previously shown to contain mh. These data suggest myostatin ma y be the gene causing muscular hypertrophy in cattle.