Structural and functional analysis of myostatin-2 promoter alleles from the marine fish Sparus aurata: Evidence for strong muscle-specific promoter activity and post-transcriptional regulation

► Sparus aurata Myostatin-2 promoter contains putative cis regulatory elements including E-boxes. ► High transcriptional activity in myoblasts, myotubes, and differentiated neural cells. ► The promoter directs GFP expression in myofibers of zebrafish embryos. ► High transcriptional activity in vivo using intra-muscular DNA injections. ► Brain expresses both spliced and unspliced, while muscle expresses only unspliced Myostatin-2.