Working on a Title
The sports industry has reached incredible heights over the last few decades,
leading to a push for stronger and faster athletes. However, when parents try train
their children to become great athletes, they have to notice there are limitations on
how good someone can get just from practice. Of course, not just anyone can win
seven consecutive tour de Frances like Lance Armstrong, and not everybody can
shoot the ball like Michael Jordan. The fact that practice is not enough to succeed at
a sport means that something else has to contribute to one’s ability. Recently,
scientists have been finding more and more evidence that links a person’s genes to
athletic performance. Humans have tens of thousands of genes, each coding for
different proteins that act as the workers of the body. Scientists have noted over 150
different genes that contribute to athletic performance. Collaboratively, these genes
help determine how good an athlete is.
In order for muscles to contract they require a protein found in muscle cells
called actin. However, actin needs to be stabilized in order to function. A protein
called α-actinin 3 stabilizes actin so that it can work properly. (Yang, et al., 2009).
Despite α-actinin-3’s seemingly critical function, scientists noted the lack of the
protein in more than one billion people worldwide (North, 2008). Eventually the
reason for the proteins deficiency in the population was uncovered. In the people
who lack the protein there is a change in their genes, causing a non-functioning
version of α -actinin-3 to be produced. Therefore, two groups are created: a group of
people that makes a-actinin-3, and another group of people that creates a nonfunctioning protein. (Yang, et al., 2009). The increasing prevalence of those who do
not make the protein (especially in European and Asian populations), have led some
to question if having the non-functioning protein is beneficial to athletics, and if so,
why would this advantageous relationship exist (North, 2008).
Scientists have conducted much research identifying the characteristics of
people who produce the protein, and those who don’t make the protein since the
identification of the two groups in 1999. The research has been conducted in elite
athletes because the influence of α-actinin-3 on muscle function should be most
noticeable in these subjects. According to Enyon, et al., (2009) there is a link
between those who make the protein and elite sprint and power performance, and a
link between those who don’t produce the protein and endurance. Since Enyon’s
experiment, many other experiments have been conducted in different types of
athletes. However it has been found that even though other scientist’s research
supports the link between those who make the protein and sprint and power
performance, much research conducted on these genes finds no link between people
who do not make the protein and endurance. In one of these other experiments that
branched off from Enyon's, scientists studied whether or not having the protein
provided an advantage to artistic gymnastic performance. As hypothesized, the
authors noted a higher degree of gymnasts that made the protein (Massida, et al,
2009). Although this experiment supports Enyon’s conclusion that having the
protein contributes to power performance, it also refuted Enyon’s link between
people who didn’t make the protein and endurance. In Massida’s experiment testing
gymnastics, there was an equal number of gymnasts and controls, or ordinary
people, that didn’t make the protein. In addition, two more experiments testing
soccer players and triathlon runners have linked people that make α –actinin-3 to
sprint and power performance, while haven’t neither have linked those who don’t
produce the working protein to endurance running. Scientists recorded that a
higher degree of professional soccer players make the protein compared to
endurance athletes and controls; nevertheless, the experiment also indicated an
extremely similar amount of endurance runners and controls that don’t make the
protein ( Santiago, et al., 2009). This shows that the production of the nonfunctioning protein may not be linked to endurance running. Finally, according to
Saunders et al., (2007) there was no link between those who don’t make the protein
and any “ultra-endurance performance”. So, although Enyon concluded that people
who don’t make a functioning α-actinin-3 have an advantage in endurance activities,
most other experiments do not support this conclusion.
Recently, a Colorado based company, ATLAS Sports Genetics, opened plans to
screen for the protein. The company says if you make α-actinin-3 you have an
advantage in sprint and power events, but if you don’t make a working version of αactinin-3 then you have an advantage in endurance events. By determining whether
or not you have the protein, the company thinks that enables them to give parents
an idea of how good a child can be a sports, and what sport their child is
predisposed to excel in (Lite, 2008). However, experiments conducted over the past
eight years show a non-functioning protein is not linked or additive to endurance
performance. The research on this topic is still relatively new, but there is not
enough evidence supporting these claims by ATLAS Genetics to purchase these
tests. The evidence recorded by scientists over the years may in fact help parents
determine which sport their child would be best in, but it cannot ensure how good a
child can be at that sport.
References
Enyon, N., Duarte, J.A., Oliveira, J., Sagiv, M., Yamin, C., Meckel, Y., … Goldhammer, E.
(2009). ACTN3 R577X polymorphism and Israeli top-level athletes. Int J
Sports Med, 30, 695-8.
Lite, J. (2008) Can genes predict athletic performance? Scientific American.
Retrieved from http://ScientificAmerican.com/aritcle.cfm?id=genes-sportstalent
Massidda, M., Vona, G., & Calo, C.M. (2009). Association between the ACTN3 R577X
polymorphism and artistic gymnastic performance in Italy. Genet Test Mol
Biomarkers, 13, 377-80.
Yang, N., Garton, F., & North, K. (2009). Alpha-Actinin-3 and Performance. Med Sport
Sci., 54, 88-801.
Norman, B., Esbjornsson, M., Rundqvist, H., Osterlund, T., von Walden, F., & Tesch, P.
(2009). Strength, power, fiber types, and mRNA expression in trained men
and women with different ACTN3 R577X genotypes. J Appl Physiol, 106, 959965.
North, Kathryn. ( 2008) Why is alpha-actinin-3 deficiency so common in the general
population? The evolution of athletic performance. Twin Res Human Genet,
11. 384-94.
MacArthur, D., & North, K. (2007). ACtN3: A Genetic Influence on Muscle Function
and Athletic Performance. Sport Sci. Rev, 1, 30-34.
Santiago, C., Gonzalez-Freire, M., Serratosa, L., Morate, F., Meyer, T. , Gomez-Gallego,
F., Lucia, A. (2008). ACTN3 genotype in professional soccer players. Br J
Sports Med, 42,71-3.
Saunders, C., September, A., Xenophontos, S., Cariolou, M., Anastassiades, L., Noakes,
T., Collins, M. (2007). No Association of the ACTN3 gene R577X
polymorphism with endurance performance in Ironman Triathlons. Ann
Hum Genet, 71, 777-81.
Moran, C., Yang, N., Bailey, M., Tsokanos, A., Jamurtas, A.,MacArthur, D.,
…Pitsiladis,Y., Wilson, R. (2007). Association analysis of the ACTN3 R577X
polymorphism and complex quantitative body composition and performance
phenotypes in adolescent Greeks. European Journal of Human Genetics, 15,
88-93.
Lite, J. (2008) Can genes predict athletic performance? Scientific American.
Retrieved from http://ScientificAmerican.com/aritcle.cfm?id=genes-sportstalent