A GENE FOR SPEED
Whether you're better suited to run a marathon or a 100-meter sprint correlates with a gene called ACTN3, researchers find.
The alpha-actinins are an ancient family of actin-binding proteins that play structural and regulatory roles in cytoskeletal organization and muscle contraction. alpha-actinin-3 is the most-highly specialized of the four mammalian alpha-actinins, with its expression restricted largely to fast glycolytic fibres in skeletal muscle. The gene encodes the protein [alpha]-actinin-3, which functions in the fast-twitch muscles. These muscles give the extra power needed for brief and vigorous bursts of activity, such as sprinting and speed skating.
Previous studies revealed that about one out of five white people in Australia has a variant of the ACTN3 gene that cannot yield [alpha]-actinin-3. Because people with the deficiency seem healthy, the protein appears to be unimportant for day-to-day activities. Most likely, it's significant only in the extremes of performance. That's where the athletic connection comes in. Researchers theorized that because the protein affects fast-muscle fibers, a deficiency of [alpha]-actinin-3 might be detrimental to speedy running and thus less likely to occur in elite sprinters. To test their theory, the researchers genetically screened a group of world-class athletes, including Australian Olympic competitors, and a control group of nonathletes. All the participants were white. The scientists divided the athletes into two groups: sprinters, which included speed skaters, and endurance athletes, such as marathon runners and rowers.
Of the sprinters, 6 percent had the gene variant leading to [alpha]-actinin-3 deficiency. That's one-third the rate for nonathletes, 18 percent of whom carried the variant. With a rate of 24 percent, endurance runners were similar to the nonathletes.
"The unique finding of this study is that the sprint athletes are different," comments Tuomo Rankinen of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. "The endurance athletes do not really differ from the nonathletes in terms of this genetic marker."
There is, however, a gender difference. None of the female sprinters was [alpha]-actinin-3 deficient. Researchers think that in male sprinters lacking the protein, hormones such as testosterone may compensate for the protein deficiency.
Previous studies have shown ethnic differences. Some 25 percent of Asians are [alpha]-actinin-3 deficient, compared with only 1 percent of Bantu-speaking people in Africa. Researchers say that the importance of [alpha]-actinin-3 protein for athletic performance may vary in different human populations.
"We know that at the moment, the best sprinters in the world are black," researchers say. So, the next question for the researchers is to compare the frequency of these ACTN3 genotypes in black sprinters with [that of] the general African-American population, for example.
The reason why this blog is important to us is because it talks about the fast twitch muscles, one of the skeletal muscles that we studied about recently in the muscle physiology.
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=07042401
Mithil Chokshi
VTPP 434 section 501
The alpha-actinins are an ancient family of actin-binding proteins that play structural and regulatory roles in cytoskeletal organization and muscle contraction. alpha-actinin-3 is the most-highly specialized of the four mammalian alpha-actinins, with its expression restricted largely to fast glycolytic fibres in skeletal muscle. The gene encodes the protein [alpha]-actinin-3, which functions in the fast-twitch muscles. These muscles give the extra power needed for brief and vigorous bursts of activity, such as sprinting and speed skating.
Previous studies revealed that about one out of five white people in Australia has a variant of the ACTN3 gene that cannot yield [alpha]-actinin-3. Because people with the deficiency seem healthy, the protein appears to be unimportant for day-to-day activities. Most likely, it's significant only in the extremes of performance. That's where the athletic connection comes in. Researchers theorized that because the protein affects fast-muscle fibers, a deficiency of [alpha]-actinin-3 might be detrimental to speedy running and thus less likely to occur in elite sprinters. To test their theory, the researchers genetically screened a group of world-class athletes, including Australian Olympic competitors, and a control group of nonathletes. All the participants were white. The scientists divided the athletes into two groups: sprinters, which included speed skaters, and endurance athletes, such as marathon runners and rowers.
Of the sprinters, 6 percent had the gene variant leading to [alpha]-actinin-3 deficiency. That's one-third the rate for nonathletes, 18 percent of whom carried the variant. With a rate of 24 percent, endurance runners were similar to the nonathletes.
"The unique finding of this study is that the sprint athletes are different," comments Tuomo Rankinen of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. "The endurance athletes do not really differ from the nonathletes in terms of this genetic marker."
There is, however, a gender difference. None of the female sprinters was [alpha]-actinin-3 deficient. Researchers think that in male sprinters lacking the protein, hormones such as testosterone may compensate for the protein deficiency.
Previous studies have shown ethnic differences. Some 25 percent of Asians are [alpha]-actinin-3 deficient, compared with only 1 percent of Bantu-speaking people in Africa. Researchers say that the importance of [alpha]-actinin-3 protein for athletic performance may vary in different human populations.
"We know that at the moment, the best sprinters in the world are black," researchers say. So, the next question for the researchers is to compare the frequency of these ACTN3 genotypes in black sprinters with [that of] the general African-American population, for example.
The reason why this blog is important to us is because it talks about the fast twitch muscles, one of the skeletal muscles that we studied about recently in the muscle physiology.
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=07042401
Mithil Chokshi
VTPP 434 section 501
posted by Mit at 5:06 PM
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