Abstract:Myostatin (MSTN) is an important gene regulating muscle growth and development. The aim of this study is to analyze the sequence and expression differences of MSTN between two indigenous goose breeds-Wuzong goose and Shitou goose from Guangdong province. Full-length sequence of MSTN gene mRNA of two goose breeds were cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends(RACE) technology, analyzed using bioinformatic methods, and detected in different tissues, as well as the leg muscle expression of MSTN in embryo day 15, day 23 and 1st day after birth. The results showed that the ORF region and 3′UTR region of MSTN gene from the two goose breeds were highly conserved, while 5′UTR region were more different and there was 35 bp deletion in 5′UTR region in Shitou geese. The DNA and amino acid sequences of MSTN were highly conserved among the two geese, Zhejiang white goose, green head duck and chicken, with more than 94.77% of DNA sequence consistency and more than 98.40% amino acid sequence consistency. MSTN was highly expressed in the leg muscles of two goose breeds, but not in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and small intestine on the 1st day after birth. The expression of MSTN increased gradually from the 15th day of embryonic period to the 1st day after birth. From the 23rd day of embryonic period, the expression of MSTN in the leg muscle of Wuzong geese was significantly higher than that of Shitou geese. This study laid a foundation for further exploring the different regulatory functions of MSTN gene during muscle development of two goose breeds.