Molecular Characterization of Tob1 in Muscle Development in Pigs

Cell proliferation is an important biological process during myogenesis. Tob1 encoded a member of the Tob/BTG family of anti-proliferative proteins. Our previous LongSAGE (Long Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) analysis suggested that Tob1 was differentially expressed during prenatal skeletal muscle development. In this study, we isolated and characterized the swine Tob1 gene. Subsequently, we examined Tob1 chromosome assignment, subcellular localization and dynamic expression profile in prenatal skeletal muscle (33, 65 and 90 days post-conception, dpc) from Landrace (lean-type) and Tongcheng pigs (obese-type). The Tob1 gene was mapped to pig chromosome 12 (SSC12). The Tob1 protein was distributed throughout the nucleus and cytoplasm of PK15 cells. During prenatal skeletal muscle development, Tob1 was up-regulated and highly expressed in skeletal muscle at 90 dpc in Tongcheng pigs but peaked at 65 dpc in Landrace pigs. This result suggested that there were different proliferation patterns during myogenesis between Tongcheng and Landrace pigs. During postnatal skeletal muscle development, the expression of Tob1 increased with aging, indicating that the proliferation potential of myoblasts decreased in postnatal muscle development. In tissues of adult wuzhishan miniature pigs, the Tob1 gene was highly expressed in skeletal muscle. The expression of Tob1 was significantly increased at day 6 during C2C12 differentiation time, suggesting a possible role in skeletal muscle development. Therefore, this study indicated that Tob1 perhaps played an important role in skeletal muscle development.