Athletic Ability

Nico Fontova

Hard work and talent are two central components to athletic performance. It is crucial for a world-class athlete to be laser-focused committed to improvement, but hard work alone will not determine success. Whether we like it or not, talent—or genetics—influences athletics, but how exactly does it do it?

There are over 150 genes found to be associated with athletic performance, but most do not have a large enough or statistically significant effect. Two genes in particular play a larger role in athletic performance and building certain types of athletes: ACTN3 (on chromosome 11) and ACE (chromosome 17). The ACTN3 gene creates alpha-actin-3, a protein which is part of the composition of fast twitch muscle fiber.¹ Fast twitch muscle fiber is one of two fibers in muscle. It can contract very quickly but also tires quickly and is key to our ability to sprint. Slow twitch fiber is the other; it contracts slowly but has much more endurance.¹ The mutation impacting ACTN3 is a SNP (a change of one base to another in the DNA sequence) which changes an amino acid into a stop codon, halting or entirely stopping alpha-actin production. This mutation is shorthanded with an X (for the premature stop) and the normal version is written as an R (for arginine, the original amino acid). Homozygous individuals are RR or XX, while heterozygotes are RX. XX individuals completely lack production of the protein, and therefore much less fast twitch muscle fiber. The XX allele is common in endurance athletes, while the RR and RX alleles are more common in short distance sprinters. The ACE gene codes for a protein which primarily regulates blood pressure, but also influences muscle function in an unclear way. The mutation in this case is an insertion called ACE-I, which is prominent in endurance athletes. ACE-D is the allele without the insertion, and DD and ID athletes are more likely to be sprinters.^1,3 These are the genes the influence athletic ability, and it is clear that being RR is more beneficial to sprinters, but is being an XX homozygote give you an advantage in endurance events? And if so, can people use genetic testing to determine their endurance ability?

Genetic testing for ACTN3 and ACE mutations could possibly be an indicator of your athleticism and could be used to identify future sprinting or endurance talent in young people. 23andMe tests for both genes, so a SNP Chip would be the recommended test, but using these tests as absolute evidence for endurance ability is risky.

A University of Bristol study found the ACTN3 R allele to be associated with sprint performance in Europeans but did not find the X allele to improve endurance ability.⁴
Another study found that only 20% of elite North American and European distance runners studied were XX homozygous, which is slightly higher than the control group at 17.5%.⁵
There clearly is some benefit with the genes, however, as a Swedish study found that only three out of 46 Spanish distance runners tested had a perfect genotypic profile for endurance (including ACE-I and ACTN3-X), but they were among the best in the world.⁶

XX homozygotes seem to have a slight advantage in endurance events (in that they are the best of the best in the Swedish study), but it is not a large or possibly notable advantage. Testing for these genes is clearly helpful in determining muscle performance, but they cannot predict someone’s proficiency in a sport by themselves, which could be unethical if taken too far.

This trait does cross many ethical lines, except for possibly using the test to select children and train children from a young age for certain disciplines. Both ACE and ACTN3 are not the sole predictors of athletic performance, however, so making a child a distance runner because he is II or XX would be wrong; it is important for someone to do what they like and not necessarily what they would be genetically proficient in. Many other factors play into athletic ability including a healthy training environment and eagerness to improve, which may not be present if someone is being forced to train because of genetics. An X or I positive test would affect a sprinter more because they would have less fast twitch muscle fiber in their bodies than others and be at an actual and proven disadvantage. One could use testing to see if they would be good short distance athletes, but most people have the R alleles that account for sprinting ability (around 20%-100% of each studied ethnic group in SNPedia), suggesting that the test is really only useful in current sprinters to see if they are at a genetic disadvantage by being RX.² This test can be used to measure athletic ability, but a VO₂ Max test (a test of the max volume of oxygen the body can use under stress) would be much more useful in determining current athletic ability, while genetic testing could determine potential ability.

If you test positive for the I or X alleles, maybe you should try your hand in endurance running, or if you already run, feel reassured in your choice, but don’t sweat it too much (unless you plan on being a world class 100 meter runner) because plenty of elite distance runners are RR or RX, and athletic ability is about more than just two genes.^5,6 In my opinion, parents should not test their children specifically for this gene or use the results to predict anything because there are many other factors contributing to athletic ability, and the evidence is not solid enough to prove that someone has talent for endurance event because of these genes. ACTN3 and ACE are indicators of how fast you can move, but they are not the whole story and certainly should not be treated as such.

References

Is Athletic Performance Determined by Genetics?. U.S. National Library of Medicine Web Site. https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/athleticperformance. Updated November 12, 2019. Accessed November 14, 2019.

Rs1815739. SNPedia Web Site. https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs1815739. Updated December 6, 2018. Accessed November 14, 2019.

Rs1799752. SNPedia Web Site. https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs1799752. Updated January 6, 2018. Accessed November 14, 2019.

Alfred T, Ben-Shlomo Y, Cooper R, et al. ACTN3 genotype, athletic status, and life course physical capability: meta-analysis of the published literature and findings from nine studies. NCBI, 2011; Abstract. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21542061?dopt=Abstract. Accessed November 14, 2019.

Döring FE, Onur S, Geisen U, et al. ACTN3 R577X and other polymorphisms are not associated with elite endurance athlete status in the Genathlete study. NCBI, 2010; Abstract. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20845221?dopt=Abstract. Accessed November 14, 2019.

Ruiz JR, Gómez-Gallego F, Santiago C, et al. Is there an optimum endurance polygenic profile? NCBI, 2009; Abstract. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19237423?dopt=Abstract. Accessed November 14, 2019.

Nico Fontova Tailgating Reflection

There was not much trash left out after the game. The cleaners athletics hired did a wonderful job making the campus look almost as if nothing ever happened—keyword being “almost”. With so many people around, there certainly was much more trash to clean that street sweepers and large-scale cleaners never would have spotted, such as the solo cup pictured above. We found a lot of solo cups, water bottles, beer cans, etc., which likely never would have been spotted had we not been there. The garbage was hidden in bushes, and under cars, and because of that it is important that small groups of people work to clean it up. Men in trucks were likely never to see the several dozen beer cans we found in the trees, but they are still damaging to the environment. We even found an old tire and ironing board, and who knows how long those were in there. There is almost always waster in our environment, and that is why taking at least a hour every once in a while to clean is so important. My impact may not have been large, but it is a step in the right direction, and it shows that something should be done to help clean campus in addition to what the University already pays for.

Climate Change Simulation – Nico Fontova

I was part of the United States group for the simulation, and I mostly felt overwhelmed during the simulation. Negotiating was difficult, as countries did not seem to be on the same page, and occasionally wanted to bash each other. The US did not have similar interests with EU, for example, because the EU was very focused on donating to developing nations while the Americans were not. This led to the EU and the US getting slightly heated in negotiation. Our position on donation definitely shifted after other countries’ anger at the amount we donated (or lack thereof), and we when saw in the program that donation had a decent effect on the temperature raise. We decided to use this to our advantage and exchange our raising of a donation for China’s promising to begin cutting emissions earlier. We did not entirely trust developing nations to use their money for good, but we saw that we needed to at least a little to cause change.

Major barriers of implementation were trying to confound to our countries’ goals and political settings; Americans do not care about climate change very much, and a constantly changing government makes long term goals difficult. Catalyzing change in the US needs to be done by showing people what will happen in the world if emissions continue to rise, and by limiting the role of fossil fuel companies in government and the news cycle so that they will no longer lie to the American people. Emissions can most certainly be cut, but it will be difficult and require extreme change from every UN nation.

Nico Fontova Watershed Photo Reflection

In this picture I see the Lily Branch stream tucked in next to River Rd and the East Campus Dining Hall. The first thing I noticed about this was how the stream is sunken into the ground and tucked away; I had never noticed it until I took this picture and did the scavenger hunt. This picture makes me think about how out-of-sight the streams actually are, even if they’re daylighting. It surprised me how ignored and hidden the stream is. When I see this picture I feel the beauty of the land and stream, but I also feel the neglect of the stream because it is “out of sight, out of mind.” I think this picture is about noticing the world around us and attempting to protect and recognize nature.

Nico Fontova

-I took AP Chemistry and AP Physics C (Mechanics) in high school, and Honors Bio and Chem my freshman and sophomore year. I liked chemistry the most because it felt very quantitative and it was interesting.

-I’d like have a better understanding of biology and more of an enjoyment of it by then end of this course.

-Probably the tailgating/watershed clean up because I’ve done trash cleanups before and I feel that it’s a straightforward and effective way to clean up the environment. I don’t know my classmates well, but I feel that they would also like an environmental clean up-type project because most people feel like everyone should do their part in cleaning nature.

-I think I can learn how to effectively clean the environment and learn about ways to get easily involved in community.

-I would enjoy learning about ecosystems and how pollutions or other factors affect them, and about genetics and evolution.