Myostatin gene promoter: structure, conservation and importance as a target for muscle modulation.

Myostatin (MSTN) is one of the key factors regulating myogenesis. Because of its role as a negative regulator of muscle mass deposition, much interest has been given to its protein and, in recent years, several studies have analysed MSTN gene regulation. This review discusses the MSTN gene promoter, focusing on its structure in several animal species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. We report the important binding sites considering their degree of phylogenetic conservation and roles they play in the promoter activity. Finally, we discuss recent studies focusing on MSTN gene regulation via promoter manipulation and the potential applications they have both in medicine and agriculture.