A Preliminary Investigation of Myostatin Gene () Variation in Red Deer () and Its Implications for Venison Production in New Zealand.

Myostatin (MSTN), also known as growth differentiation factor 8 (GDF-8), is a negative regulator of lean muscle tissue growth. Variation in the gene has been studied in many domesticated species, because of its potential to dramatically increase muscle mass. It has, however, not been investigated in red deer (). In this study, variation in intron 1 was investigated in 211 male New Zealand red deer, for which phenotypic measurements of (eye muscle) (width, depth, and area, together with 12-month weight) were recorded. Two sequence variants (named and ) differing by one nucleotide (c.373 + 224) were identified in the intron 1 region of the gene resulting in three genotypes (, and ; frequencies of 63.5%, 30.8%, and 5.7%, respectively), but no association between this variation and any of the quantitative measurements was detected. These results suggest that the deer is less variable than for other livestock species and that its activity may be controlled to maintain a size-growth equilibrium.