Twist2 plays a pivotal regulatory role in the growth of skeletal muscle across various organisms. Nonetheless, the specific mechanism by which
Twist2 governs skeletal muscle function in fish, particularly in the economically significant Chinese perch (
Siniperca chuatsi), remains unclear. Within the
[...] Read more.
Twist2 plays a pivotal regulatory role in the growth of skeletal muscle across various organisms. Nonetheless, the specific mechanism by which
Twist2 governs skeletal muscle function in fish, particularly in the economically significant Chinese perch (
Siniperca chuatsi), remains unclear. Within the muscle injury model in Chinese perch, we observed that
Twist2 expression was upregulated during the repair phase of fast muscle tissue, exhibiting an expression pattern analogous to that of
Pax7. Following the knockdown of
Twist2 using
Twist2-specific in vivo-siRNA in fast muscle tissues, the expression of myogenic regulatory factors (
MRFs)
and Myomaker was significantly reduced in the
Twist2-siRNA-treated group compared with the control group, whereas no significant differences were observed for
Pax3 and
Pax7. Furthermore, the diameter of myofibers and the number of nuclei in single myofibers were reduced, and concurrently, the number of BrdU-positive cells (proliferating cells) was significantly reduced in the
Twist2-siRNA-treated group. Taken together, this study demonstrates that Twist2 promotes myoblast proliferation and fusion, thereby regulating fast muscle growth in juvenile Chinese perch. These findings provide a clear direction for further exploration of molecular mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle growth in economic fish species.
Full article
