Striated muscle signaling protein and transcriptional regulator ANKRD2 participates in myogenesis, myogenic differentiation, muscle adaptation and stress response. It is preferentially expressed in slow, oxidative fibers of mammalian skeletal muscle. In this study, we report on characterization of chicken ANKRD2. The chicken ANKRD2 coding region contains 1002 bp and encodes a 334-amino acid protein which shares approximately 58% identity with human and mouse orthologs, mostly in the conserved region of ankyrin repeats. Comprehensive analysis of the ANKRD2 gene and protein expression in adult chicken demonstrated its predominant expression in red muscles of thigh and drumstick, compared to white muscle. It was not detected in heart and white pectoral muscle. Uneven expression of ANKRD2 in chicken skeletal muscles, observed by immunohistochemistry, was attributed to its selective expression in slow, oxidative, type I and fast, oxidative–glycolytic, type IIA myofibers. Association of chicken ANKRD2 with phenotypic differences between red and white muscles points to its potential role in the process of myofiber-type specification. In addition to expression in slow oxidative myofibers, as demonstrated for mammalian protein, chicken ANKRD2 was also detected in fast fibers with mixed oxidative and glycolytic metabolism. This finding suggests that ANKRD2 is responsive to metabolic differences between types of avian myofibers and orientates future studies towards investigation of its role in molecular mechanisms of myofiber-type-specific gene expression.

横纹肌信号蛋白和转录调节因子 ANKRD2 参与肌生成、肌源性分化、肌肉适应和应激反应。它优先在哺乳动物骨骼肌的慢氧化纤维中表达。在这项研究中，我们报告了鸡ANKRD2 的表征。鸡ANKRD2编码区包含 1002 bp 并编码 334 个氨基酸的蛋白质，该蛋白质与人和小鼠的直向同源物具有大约 58% 的同一性，主要位于锚蛋白重复序列​​的保守区域。ANKRD2综合分析与白肌相比，成年鸡的基因和蛋白质表达表明其在大腿和鸡腿的红肌中主要表达。在心脏和胸白肌中未检测到它。通过免疫组织化学观察到的 ANKRD2 在鸡骨骼肌中的不均匀表达归因于其在慢速氧化 I 型和快速氧化糖酵解 IIA 型肌纤维中的选择性表达。鸡ANKRD2与红肌和白肌之间表型差异的关联表明其在肌纤维类型规范过程中的潜在作用。除了在慢氧化肌纤维中表达外，如哺乳动物蛋白质所证明的那样，还在具有混合氧化和糖酵解代谢的快肌纤维中检测到鸡 ANKRD2。这一发现表明ANKRD2 对鸟类肌纤维类型之间的代谢差异有反应，并将未来的研究定向到研究其在肌纤维类型特异性基因表达的分子机制中的作用。