TY - JOUR 
A1 - Fiuza Luces, María del Carmen
AU - Ruiz, Jonatan R.
AU - Rodríguez Romo, Gabriel
AU - Santiago Dorrego, Catalina
AU - Gómez Gallego, Félix
AU - Yvert, Thomas Paul
AU - Cano-Nieto, Amalia
AU - Garatachea, Nuria
AU - Morán, María
AU - Lucía Mulas, Alejandro
T1 - Are 'endurance' alleles 'survival' alleles? Insights from the ACTN3 R577X polymorphism
Y1 - 2011
SN - 19326203
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11268/305
AB - Exercise phenotypes have played a key role for ensuring survival over human evolution. We speculated that some genetic variants that influence exercise phenotypes could be associated with exceptional survival (i.e. reaching ≥100 years of age). Owing to its effects on muscle structure/function, a potential candidate is the Arg(R)577Ter(X) polymorphism (rs1815739) in ACTN3, the structural gene encoding the skeletal muscle protein α-actinin-3. We compared the ACTN3 R577X genotype/allele frequencies between the following groups of ethnically-matched (Spanish) individuals: centenarians (cases, n = 64; 57 female; age range: 100-108 years), young healthy controls (n = 283, 67 females, 216 males; 21±2 years), and humans who are at the two end-points of exercise capacity phenotypes, i.e. muscle endurance (50 male professional road cyclists) and muscle power (63 male jumpers/sprinters). Although there were no differences in genotype/allele frequencies between centenarians (RR:28.8%; RX:47.5%; XX:23.7%), and controls (RR:31.8%; RX:49.8%; XX:18.4%) or endurance athletes (RR:28.0%; RX:46%; XX:26.0%), we observed a significantly higher frequency of the X allele (P = 0.019) and XX genotype (P = 0.011) in centenarians compared with power athletes (RR:47.6%; RX:36.5%;XX:15.9%). Notably, the frequency of the null XX (α-actinin-3 deficient) genotype in centenarians was the highest ever reported in non-athletic Caucasian populations. In conclusion, despite there were no significant differences with the younger, control population, overall the ACTN3 genotype of centenarians resembles that of world-class elite endurance athletes and differs from that of elite power athletes. Our preliminary data would suggest a certain 'survival' advantage brought about by α-actinin-3 deficiency and the 'endurance'/oxidative muscle phenotype that is commonly associated with this condition.
KW - Alleles*
KW - Amino Acid Substitution/*Genetics
KW - Physical Endurance/*Genetics
KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/*Genetics
KW - Cohort Studies
KW - Female
KW - Genotype
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Genética humana
KW - Fisiología humana
LA - eng
ER -