The association of gene polymorphisms with athlete status in ukrainians

S B Drozdovska; V E Dosenko; I I Ahmetov; V N Ilyin

doi:10.5604/20831862.1059168

The association of gene polymorphisms with athlete status in ukrainians

Biol Sport. 2013 Sep;30(3):163-7. doi: 10.5604/20831862.1059168. Epub 2013 Jul 22.

Authors

S B Drozdovska¹, V E Dosenko², I I Ahmetov³, V N Ilyin¹

Affiliations

¹ National University of Physical Education and Sports of Ukraine, Department of Sport Biology, Kiev, Ukraine.
² Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Sector of Molecular Physiology, Kiev, Ukraine.
³ Volga Region State Academy of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, Sport Technology Education Research Laboratory, Kazan, Russia.

Abstract

Athletic performance is a polygenic trait influenced by both environmental and genetic factors.

Objective: To investigate individually and in combination the association of common gene polymorphisms with athlete status in Ukrainians.

Methods: A total of 210 elite Ukrainian athletes (100 endurance-oriented and 110 power-orientated athletes) and 326 controls were genotyped for ACE I/D, HIF1A Pro582Ser, NOS3 -786 T/C, PPARA intron 7 G/C, PPARG Pro12Ala and PPARGC1B Ala203Pro gene polymorphisms, most of which were previously reported to be associated with athlete status or related intermediate phenotypes in different populations.

Results: Power-oriented athletes exhibited an increased frequency of the HIF1A Ser (16.1 vs. 9.4%, P = 0.034) and NOS3 T alleles (78.3 vs. 66.2%, P = 0.0019) in comparison with controls. Additionally, we found that the frequency of the PPARG Ala allele was significantly higher in power-oriented athletes compared with the endurance-oriented athletes (24.7 vs. 13.5%; P = 0.0076). Next, we determined the total genotype score (TGS, from the accumulated combination of the three polymorphisms, with a maximum value of 100 for the theoretically optimal polygenic score) in athletes and controls. The mean TGS was significantly higher in power-oriented athletes (39.1 ± 2.3 vs. 32.6 ± 1.5; P = 0.0142) than in controls.

Conclusions: We found that the HIF1A Ser, NOS3 T and PPARG Ala alleles were associated with power athlete status in Ukrainians.

Keywords: athletic performance; gene polymorphisms; genetic markers; sport selection.