Ovine metallothionein 1a-oGH (oMT1a-oGH) is an inducible promoter. The transgene can be
activated by providing 25mM zinc sulfate in drinking water. Growth hormone effects have
been known for many years to cause changes in the growth and development of skeletal
muscles of livestock. The beauty of the controllable promoter lies in the fact that, we
can manipulate the desired effects of muscle growth and development of skeletal muscles,
when most beneficial to the producer. I, therefore directed my efforts to study the
effects of activated transgene at various time points in transgenic mouse model carrying
the above transgene in their genome. By doing so, I want to investigate the underlying
mechanism for skeletal muscle growth in these animals. Preliminary studies in this
regard indicate that there are many changes like nucleic acid concentration, catheptic
enzyme activities, growth hormone concentrations etc. which are significantly different
from the treatment controls.
Further work in progress to correlate the IGF-1 levels in different muscles and organs
will explain the mechanism at the cellular level. Thus the findings can be directed to
control the growth functions of the skeletal muscle in these animals for the benefit of
the farmer and can add to the economy of the producer.
