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  • World-class performance in lightweight rowing: is it genetically influenced? A comparison with cyclists, runners and non-athletes

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World-class performance in lightweight rowing: is it genetically influenced? A comparison with cyclists, runners and non-athletes
  1. Carlos A Muniesa1,
  2. Marta González-Freire1,
  3. Catalina Santiago1,
  4. José I Lao2,
  5. Amaya Buxens3,
  6. Juan C Rubio4,
  7. Miguel A Martín4,
  8. Joaquín Arenas4,
  9. Felix Gomez-Gallego1,
  10. Alejandro Lucia1
  1. 1Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
  2. 2Sabiobbi S.L., Madrid, Spain
  3. 3Progenika, Parque Tecnológico de Zamudio, Zamudio, Spain
  4. 4Centro de Investigación, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain
  1. Correspondence to Professor Alejandro Lucia, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid 28670, Spain; alejandro.lucia{at}uem.es

Abstract

In this study, genotype frequencies of several polymorphisms that are candidates to influence sports performance (ie, ACTN3 R577X, ACE ID, PPARGC1A Gly482Ser, AMPD1 C34T, CKMM 985bp/1170bp and GDF8 (myostatin) K153R) were compared in 123 nonathletic controls, 50 professional cyclists, 52 Olympicclass runners and 39 world-class rowers (medallists in world championships, lightweight category). Significant differences in genotype distributions among the groups were not found except for the ACE gene, that is, lower (p<0.05) proportion of II in rowers (10.3%) than in the total subject population (22.3%). In summary, sports performance is likely polygenic with the combined effect of hundreds of genetic variants, one possibly being the ACE ID polymorphism (at least in the sports studied here), but many others remain to be identified.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2008.051680

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    Footnotes

    • C A M and M G-F contributed equally to this work.

    • Funding This study was supported by a grant from Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD, ref. # 01/UPR/10/08). Marta González-Freire is supported by a contract from the Fonode de Investigaciones Snaitarias (FIS, ref, # FI07/00189).

    • Patient consent Obtained.