Two myostatin genes exhibit divergent and conserved functions in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus)

•Two myostatin genes (mstn-1 and mstn-2) were cloned from grass carp.•Both mstn-1 and -2 mRNAs were upregulated significantly during somitogenesis.•Fasting can markedly regulated transcription of duplicated mstns in grass carp tissues.•Overexpression of mstn-1 mRNA caused a strongly ventralized phenotype in embryos.

Myostatin (MSTN) is an important negative regulator of myogenesis, which inhibits myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of two mstn genes in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus). Grass carp mstn-1 and mstn-2 cDNAs are highly divergent, sharing a relatively low amino acid sequence identity of 66%. In adult fish, both orthologs are expressed in numerous tissues and they are differentially regulated during a fasting/refeeding treatments. During embryogenesis, the mRNA levels of both mstn-1 and -2 were upregulated significantly at the beginning of somitogenesis, and maintained at high levels until hatching. Using in situ hybridization, grass carp mstn-1 mRNA was found to ubiquitously express at 12 hpf, with strong signals in the notochord, and in the eyes, brain and tailbud at 24 hpf, and in brain and notochord at 36 hpf. In comparison, the mstn-2 mRNA can be detected in the eyes, brain and notochord at 24 hpf, and in the notochord and hindbrain at 36 hpf. Further overexpression of mstn-1 mRNA caused a strongly ventralized phenotype by inhibiting dorsal tissue development, while injection of mstn-2 mRNA resulted in obvious embryonic abnormalities in grass carp. These results provide some new insights into the functional conservation and divergence of mstn genes in teleost species.