The myostatin (MSTN) gene was studied as a candidate genetic marker for growth traits. We
investigated polymorphisms of the MSTN gene in 664 individuals from four goat populations and applied
PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing analysis to reveal two single nucleotide polymorphisms (DQ167575: g.368A>C
(p.Lys49Thr) and g.4911C>T. At g.368A>C locus, the frequencies of g.368A allele were 0.75–0.81, and the
frequencies of g.368C allele were 0.19–0.25. At g.4911C>T locus, the frequencies of g.4911C allele were
0.76–0.82, and frequencies of g.4911T allele were 0.18–0.24. Compared to the female goats with AC genotype,
those with AA genotype had superior body weight in Boer goats (15.69 ± 0.28 vs. 14.51 ± 0.31, P < 0.05)
and F
1 generation of Boer × Guanzhong dairy goats (19.39 ± 0.34 vs. 18.27 ± 0.33, P < 0.05). In addition, the
female goats with AA genotype (45.80 ± 0.33 cm) had greater withers height than those with AC genotype
(44.78 ± 0.36 cm) in F2 generation of Boer × Guanzhong dairy goats (P < 0.05). Hence, the biochemical and
physiological functions along with the results obtained in our investigation suggest that the MSTN gene
might play an important role in affecting the growth traits in goats.