Myostatin

transgenesis, where scientists can create new alleles in animals. This essay shows how the selective breeding method and transgenesis method are carried out on the Belgian Blue Cattle and the Spidergoat. Selective Breeding in Belgian Blue Cattle Selective Breeding is a process where individuals who have desirable traits are selected by breeders to mate and produce offspring who also have the desirable trait.(1) In Belgian Blue cattle, the trait that breeders are wanting to select for is Muscular Hypertrophy or “Double Muscling” which is a recessive allele and expressed when it is homozygous.(2) The double muscling occurs naturally due to a mutation where 11 nucleotides are deleted in the myostatin protein that regulates the growth of muscles, produced in muscle cells.(8) This causes the myostatin protein to not work and therefore the Belgian Blue has an increase in lean muscle growth. Cattle with “double muscling” are selected by breeders through the selective breeding process for the extra meat available due to the mutation. The increased meat produced is good for beef production and…

The protein product of the myostatin gene inhibits skeletal muscle growth. People who suffer from skeletal muscle degenerative diseases show significant increases in myostatin. In contrast, knocking-out the gene results in significant increases in skeletal muscle mass (hypetrophy, which is characterized by an increase in muscle cell size not number, such as is seen in professional athletes) in experimental animals. Recently, a human child exhibiting strength far beyond that of other children of…

Researchers are currently working on finding ways to replace the missing structural protein, dystrophin (Do & Thomson, 2015). They do so by experimenting with gene therapy, or the insertion of new dystrophin genes either through the action of viruses or muscle specific promotors (Do & Thomson, 2015). Scientists have also tried to use exon skipping so that portions of the genetic code are “skipped” and partially functional dystrophin can result (“Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy”, 2016). Other…

Scientist in China have already begun experimenting with embryos of humans and dogs. Using the CRISPR system, scientist deleted a gene from a beagle’s embryo called myostatin. Myostatin blocks muscle production and by cutting the gene the beagle’s body could produce extra muscle.(The Telegraph) After the experiment was performed, the female dog showed physical difference. For instance, the beagle “displayed obvious muscular phenotype” in her thigh muscles that were very large compared to a…

best friend,” but will they have the title of being a man’s hero? The process of genetically engineering dogs could be a step closer to preventing human diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and muscular dystrophy. Muscular dystrophy is a condition where the muscles in a human body weakens at a very fast rate. Abnormal genes come in contact with the proteins that are used to create healthy muscles. When the two interfere with each other, muscle dystrophy occurs. As of the moment, there is no…

However, creatine itself does not have direct anabolic effect in muscular hypertrophy [4]. Though, a few clinical studies recorded slight inhibition of growth differentiation factor-8 (myostatin) [5]. Pre-workout supplements are used to enhance resistance-training performance and generally contain: caffeine, β-alanine and l-arginine as main ingredients [6]. Testosterone, androgen, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)…

spread among tissue ‘infecting them’ with the single DNA inputted into the virus cell. That rDNA targets a certain homologous gene to adjust its genetic makeup/figuration. By injecting these rAAVs into muscle fiber, the patient is able to remove and or add certain genes. For example, while testing this method in lab conditions scientists have added genes that aid in the overexpression of IGF-1 (the juvenile form of insulin-like growth factor that is produced primarily by the liver in response…

Genetic engineering used on bacteria, animals, plants and agriculture has actually been around quite some time now: the first mice were genetically modified in 1973, and genetically modified food has been on the market since 1994. Gene therapy, however, is the genetic engineering of humans: a more debated topic. Therefore most therapies haven’t been applied on humans yet, but have been successfully tested on mice. Myostatin gene therapy for instance removes the myostatin gene, which is a gene…

Genetically modifying babies in the United States should be banned because it is not fair to create super babies. Imagine being able to decide every little feature that makes up a child and basically building them any way an individual wants. In today's generation, eye color, hair color, build, intelligence and talents can be added or deleted by editing genes (Salkever & Wadhwa, 2017). Scientists say that in Berlin, Germany a baby “superman” has a genetic mutation that boosts muscle growth by…

to move under the other persons weight to get to a position. Beginners, even those who have been involved in other sports, find it difficult when beginning this sport to execute techniques and movements because they do not have the appropriate strength in the muscles used in this sport. Training the muscles is an important part of the sport and involves the mechanisms of Akt/ PKB and mTOR. When a load is exerted on a muscle IGF-1 is released and travels to a muscle cell, there it binds to an…