Interactions Between the GH-IGF axis and Myostatin in Regulating Muscle Growth in Sparus aurata
Authors: Funkenstein Bruria , Du Shaojun (Jim) 
Published: March 2022

Growth rate of cultured fish from hatching to commercial size is a major factor in the success of aquaculture. The normal stimulus for muscle growth in growing fish is not well understood and understanding the regulation of muscle growth in fish is of particular importance for aquaculture. Fish meat constitutes mostly of skeletal muscles and provides high value proteins in most people's diet. Unlike mammals, fish continue to grow throughout their lives, although the size fish attain, as adults, is species specific. Evidence indicates that muscle growth is regulated positively and negatively by a variety of growth and transcription factors that control both muscle cell proliferation and differentiation. In particular, growth hormone (GH), fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and transforming growth factor-13 (TGF-13) play critical roles in myogenesis during animal growth. An important advance in our understanding of muscle growth was provided by the recent discovery of the crucial functions of myostatin (MSTN) in controlling muscle growth. MSTN is a member of the TGF-13 superfamily and functions as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth in mammals. Studies in mammals also provided evidence for possible interactions between GH, IGFs, MSTN and the musclespecific transcription factor My oD with regards to muscle development and growth. The goal of our project was to try to clarify the role of MSTNs in Sparus aurata muscle growth and in particular determine the possible interaction between the GH-IGFaxis and MSTN in regulating muscle growth in fish. The steps to achieve this goal included: i) Determining possible relationship between changes in the expression of growth-related genes, MSTN and MyoD in muscle from slow and fast growing sea bream progeny of full-sib families and that of growth rate; ii) Testing the possible effect of over-expressing GH, IGF-I and IGF-Il on the expression of MSTN and MyoD in skeletal muscle both in vivo and in vitro; iii) Studying the regulation of the two S. aurata MSTN promoters and investigating the possible role of MyoD in this regulation. The major findings of our research can be summarized as follows: 1) Two MSTN promoters (saMSTN-1 and saMSTN-2) were isolated and characterized from S. aurata and were found to direct reporter gene activity in A204 cells. Studies were initiated to decipher the regulation of fish MSTN expression in vitro using the cloned promoters; 2) The gene coding for saMSTN-2 was cloned. Both the promoter and the first intron were found to be polymorphic. The first intron zygosity appears to be associated with growth rate; 3) Full length cDNA coding for S. aurata growth differentiation factor-l I (GDF-II), a closely related growth factor to MSTN, was cloned from S. aurata brain, and the mature peptide (C-terminal) was found to be highly conserved throughout evolution. GDF-II transcript was detected by RT -PCR analysis throughout development in S. aurata embryos and larvae, suggesting that this mRNA is the product of the embryonic genome. Transcripts for GDF-Il were detected by RT-PCR in brain, eye and spleen with highest level found in brain; 4) A novel member of the TGF-Bsuperfamily was partially cloned from S. aurata. It is highly homologous to an unidentified protein (TGF-B-like) from Tetraodon nigroviridisand is expressed in various tissues, including muscle; 5) Recombinant S. aurata GH was produced in bacteria, refolded and purified and was used in in vitro and in vivo experiments. Generally, the results of gene expression in response to GH administration in vivo depended on the nutritional state (starvation or feeding) and the time at which the fish were sacrificed after GH administration. In vitro, recombinantsaGH activated signal transduction in two fish cell lines: RTHI49 and SAFI; 6) A fibroblastic-like cell line from S. aurata (SAF-I) was characterized for its gene expression and was found to be a suitable experimental system for studies on GH-IGF and MSTN interactions; 7) The gene of the muscle-specific transcription factor Myogenin was cloned from S. aurata, its expression and promoter activity were characterized; 8) Three genes important to myofibrillogenesis were cloned from zebrafish: SmyDl, Hsp90al and skNAC. Our data suggests the existence of an interaction between the GH-IGFaxis and MSTN. This project yielded a great number of experimental tools, both DNA constructs and in vitro systems that will enable further studies on the regulation of MSTN expression and on the interactions between members of the GHIGFaxis and MSTN in regulating muscle growth in S. aurata.