MicroRNA-27b-3p Targets the Myostatin Gene to Regulate Myoblast Proliferation and Is Involved in Myoblast Differentiation.

microRNAs play an important role in the growth and development of chicken embryos, including the regulation of skeletal muscle genesis, myoblast proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Our previous RNA-seq studies showed that microRNA-27b-3p (miR-27b-3p) might play an important role in regulating the proliferation and differentiation of chicken primary myoblasts (CPMs). However, the mechanism of miR-27b-3p regulating the proliferation and differentiation of CPMs is still unclear. In this study, the results showed that miR-27b-3p significantly promoted the proliferation of CPMs and inhibited the differentiation of CPMs. Then, myostatin () was confirmed to be the target gene of miR-27b-3p by double luciferase reporter assay, RT-qPCR, and Western blot. By overexpressing and interfering with expression in CPMs, the results showed that overexpression of significantly inhibited the proliferation and differentiation of CPMs. In contrast, interference of expression had the opposite effect. This study showed that miR-27b-3p could promote the proliferation of CPMs by targeting . Interestingly, both miR-27b-3p and can inhibit the differentiation of CPMs. These results provide a theoretical basis for further understanding the function of miR-27b-3p in chicken and revealing its regulation mechanism on chicken muscle growth.