Interpretive Summary: MiR-18 inhibitor promotes the differentiation of bovine skeletal muscle-derived satellite cells by increasing MEF2D expression

By: Bowen Meng, Di Jiang, Delin Kong, Yunqin Yan, Yuzhe Nie, Chun-Bo Teng, Yang Liang

Beef is a beneficial food source, and improving muscle yield and quality has become a hot topic in the beef industry. Therefore, our study aimed to explore effective methods to improve bovine muscle cell differentiation to increase beef production. The study revealed that microRNA-18 (miR-18) inhibitor could promote the differentiation of bovine skeletal muscle-derived satellite cells (bMDSCs) by increasing the expression of myocyte enhancer factor 2D (MEF2D), a critical gene for myoblast differentiation. Furthermore, we found that combined inhibitors of miR-18 and miR-19 could significantly improve bMDSCs differentiation. Our study demonstrated the role of a new regulatory factor that may enhance beef production level and contributed to elucidating the mechanism of muscle differentiation.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.