Myostatin-related Animal Hypertrophy
ADDPMP801Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy is caused by mutations in the MSTN gene cause. The MSTN gene provides instructions for making a protein called myostatin, which is active in muscles used for movement (skeletal muscles) both before and after birth. This protein normally restrains muscle growth, ensuring that muscles do not grow too large. Mutations that reduce the production of functional myostatin lead to an overgrowth of muscle tissue.
Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy has a pattern of inheritance known as incomplete autosomal dominance. Animals with a mutation in both copies of the gene in each cell (homozygotes) have significantly increased muscle mass. Animals with a mutation in one copy of the MSTN gene in each cell (heterozygotes) also have increased muscle bulk but to a lesser degree.
The effect of this growth factor was first described in cattle as “bovine muscular hypertrophy” by a British farmer in 1807. Cattle that have a myostatin gene deletion look unusually and excessively muscular. The prevalence of this condition is still unknown.

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































