Investigation of Expression Levels of Transcription Factor Genes in Native Sheep Breeds of Turkey

Abstract This study, it was aimed to investigate the expression levels of transcription factor (TF) genes (MYF6, MYOD1, MYF5, MYOG) and proteins associated with muscle growth in the longissimus dorsi (LD) and gluteal (GL) muscles in sheep. For this purpose, two fat-tailed sheep breeds (Akkaraman (n = 10), İvesi (n = 10)) and two thin-tailed sheep breeds (Kivircik (n = 10) and Karayaka (n = 10)) from Turkey's native sheep breeds were examined. The expression level of RNAs and proteins isolated from fresh tissues and MYF6, MYOD1, MYF5, MYOG proteins were analyzed. As a result of the statistical analysis, in the LD tissue, respectively, MYOG and MYF5 genes in the Karayaka sheep breed; MYOD1 gene in Akkaraman sheep breed; MYF5 gene in Awassi sheep breed were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). In GL tissue, respectively, MYOG and MYF6 genes in Akkaraman sheep breed; MYOD1 gene in Karayaka sheep breed; MYF6 gene in Akkaraman and Awassi sheep breed were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). In the present study, it was found that the MYOG (fold change 6.87) and MYOD1 (fold change 15.41) genes were upregulated in the GL muscle of the fat-tailed Akkaraman sheep breed. In addition, in the thin-tailed Karayaka sheep breed, down-regulation of MYOD1 (fold change − 0.22) gene in LD muscle and up-regulation of MYOD1 (fold change 6.67) gene in GL muscle was found. As a result, it can be considered that MYOG and MYOD1 genes as candidate genes in molecular selection studies for our fat-tailed and thin-tailed indigenous breeds in terms of muscle development.