LncRNA-004686 regulates muscle fibre type switching in chicken embryos by affecting the expression of MYH1B

Abstract Muscle fibres constitute the majority of an animal's muscle, and the kind of muscle fibres has a substantial impact on the quality of muscle. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are well-known to participate in various critical regulatory processes in muscle fibre type switching. Immunohistochemistry was employed in this study to determine the ratio of fast and slow muscle fibres in the leg muscles of two breeds during the embryonic stage. Finally, leg muscle samples at 8 days and 15 days of embryonic stage were selected for high-throughput sequencing. The highly differentially expressed lncRNA-004686 was identified between two breeds, and its putative target gene is MYH1B. To investigate its effect on the proliferation, differentiation, and muscle fibre switching of chicken myoblasts, interference and overexpression vectors of lncRNA-004686 were designed and transfected into chicken myoblasts. The findings suggested that lncRNA-004686 may influence the target gene MYH1B, hence increasing myoblast proliferation, restricting myoblast differentiation, and influencing muscle fibre type. This study offers fresh perspectives on how to investigate the molecular mechanism of muscle fibre type switching in chicken embryos and enhance meat quality.