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The myostatin protein MSTN is encoded by the myostatin gene MSTN, also known as the Growth and Differentiation Factor 8 (GDF8) gene. The protein is a circulating factor that muscle cells produce and whose job it is to control prenatal muscle fibre growth. For the cattle MSTN, at least 20 distinct genetic variations—including deletions, insertions, and nucleotide substitutions—have been identified. 10 New Zealand (NZ) cattle breeds (Charolais, Hereford, Angus, South Devon, Simmental, Red Poll, Composite, Murray Grey, Shorthorn, and crossbred Holstein-Friesian–Jersey–cross cows) were studied for their genetic diversity and haplotypic diversity in MSTN. Found no evidence of genetic variation in any of the NZ breeds studied for the MSTN coding sequence. Since the NZ breeds are different from earlier findings regarding European cattle breeds, this may be due to test sample size, founder effects, selection, and other cross- and in-breeding procedures. As we contrast the NZ outcomes with their European parent breeds, the emphasis of my commentary is to go into greater detail about some of these aspects. Five nucleotide variants in the coding region of the bovine MSTN were found in nine different European cow breeds in an assessment of haplotypic diversity (Charolais, Maine-Anjou, Aubrac, Salers, Parthenaise, Bazadaise, Ayrshire, Galloway cattle and the Intr95 sire-line). While three of these nucleotide changes (c. 267A/G, c. 324C/T, and c. 387G/A) were quiet, two of them (c. Exon 1 of the Charolais, Maine-Anjou, Aubrac, Salers, and Intr95 sire-line cattle breeds included the c.324C/T mutation, but there was no change in the other exons.

As mentioned above, there were a variety of potential explanations for this. 61 bulls and 302 Charolais cows were imported into New Zealand from Great Britain between 1969 and 1981, according to reports from the NZ Charolais Cattle Society. Bulls were mated to Angus, Friesian, and Hereford cows across five subsequent generations. Thus, the "NZ Charolais" was created, retaining the usual growth rate and muscular development of the Charolais breed but being more suitable to the pasture-based beef production techniques utilised in NZ. Breeds may be threatened by extinction due to breed replacement as well as by the genetic degradation of local populations as a consequence of the introduction of genetic variations from other populations. Although the NZ Charolais may have come from Europe in this case, the longer populations have been separated, the more genetic divergence will have occurred owing to random genetic drift, especially if the effective population size has been small.