Exercise and sport Genetics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Exercise and sport Genetics - Essay Example lear families provided the earliest data to on the heritability of variations in fitness-related traits (Bouchard, Leon, Rao, Skinner, Wilmore, & Gagnon, 1995). In these studies, 130 two-generation families were monitored for different responses to an aerobic exercise program implemented for twenty weeks. Oxygen uptake, stroke volume, cardiac output, and exercise heart rate response to training were found to be heritable. Genetics was also found to influence other variables such as skeletal muscle strength and performance, muscle adaptation to endurance exercise, explosive power, muscle strength, and their response to training. Segregation analysis showed that mostly single genes are responsible for phenotypic variation in some traits like oxygen uptake at the ventilator threshold (Feitosa, et al., 2002). These findings have resulted in the identification of polymorphisms and genetic loci that contribute to human physical performance. Genome-wide linkage analyses and genetic associations identified cardiorespiratory and skeletal muscle performance genes. Studies using the HERITAGE family cohort (Bouchard et al. 1995) identified linkage peaks associated with genetic variation in maximal oxygen uptake, power output, exercise stroke volume, blood pressure, body fat distribution, glucose and insulin metabolism (MacArthur & North, 2005). Association studies have further identified three candidate genes involved with cardiorespiratory function. The first was CKMM, which encodes for the cytosolic muscle isoform of creatine kinase, is responsible for the rapid regeneration of ATP during intensive muscle contraction. This gene was associated with exercise performance (Rivera, et al., 1997). Second was the angiotensinogen gene, AGT, M235T missense polymorphism, which has positive association with several measures of cardiorespiratory performance (McCole, et al., 2002). Missense polymorphisms in the ADRB2 gene for the ÃŽ ²2 -adrenergic receptor were also found to be associated