The Regulatory Role of in the Muscle Growth of the Chinese Perch ().

The fusion of myoblasts is a crucial stage in the growth and development of skeletal muscle. is an important myoblast fusion factor that plays a crucial role in regulating myoblast fusion. However, the function of in economic fish during posthatching has been poorly studied. In this study, we found that the expression of in the fast muscle of Chinese perch () was higher than that in other tissues. To determine the function of in fast muscle, -siRNA was used to knockdown in Chinese perch and the effect on muscle growth was determined. The results showed that the growth of Chinese perch was significantly decreased in the -siRNA group. Furthermore, both the diameter of muscle fibers and the number of nuclei in single muscle fibers were significantly reduced in the -siRNA group, whereas there was no significant difference in the number of BrdU-positive cells (proliferating cells) between the control and the -siRNA groups. Together, these findings indicate that may regulate growth of fast muscle in Chinese perch juveniles by promoting myoblast fusion rather than proliferation.