The GALNTL6 Gene rs558129 Polymorphism Is Associated With Power Performance

  • Julen Díaz Ramírez
  • , Jesús Álvarez-Herms
  • , Arkaitz Castañeda-Babarro
  • , Jon Larruskain
  • , Xabier Ramírez de la Piscina
  • , Oleg V. Borisov
  • , Ekaterina A. Semenova
  • , Elena S. Kostryukova
  • , Nikolay A. Kulemin
  • , Oleg N. Andryushchenko
  • , Andrey K. Larin
  • , Liliya B. Andryushchenko
  • , Edward V. Generozov
  • , Ildus I. Ahmetov
  • , Adrian Odriozola*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The largest genome-wide association study to date in sports genomics showed that endurance athletes were 1.23 times more likely to possess the C allele of the single nucleotide polymorphism rs558129 of N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase-like 6 gene (GALNTL6), compared with controls. Nevertheless, no further study has investigated GALNTL6 gene in relation to physical performance. Considering that previous research has shown that the same polymorphism can be associated with both endurance and power phenotypes (ACTN3, ACE, and PPARA), we investigated the association between GALNTL6 rs558129 polymorphism and power performance. According to this objective we conducted 2 global studies regarding 2 different communities of athletes in Spain and Russia. The first study involved 85 Caucasian physically active men from the north of Spain to perform a Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT). In the second study we compared allelic frequencies between 173 Russian power athletes (49 strength and 124 speed-strength athletes), 169 endurance athletes, and 201 controls. We found that physically active men with the T allele of GALNTL6 rs558129 had 5.03-6.97% higher power values compared with those with the CC genotype (p< 0.05). Consistent with these findings, we have shown that the T allele was over-represented in power athletes (37.0%) compared with endurance athletes (29.3%; OR = 1.4, p = 0.032) and controls (28.6%; OR = 1.5, p = 0.015). Furthermore, the highest frequency of the T allele was observed in strength athletes (43.9%; odds ratio [OR] = 1.9, p = 0.0067 compared with endurance athletes; OR 5 2.0, p = 0.0036 compared with controls). In conclusion, our data suggest that the GALNTL6 rs558129 T allele can be favorable for anaerobic performance and strength athletes. In addition, we propose a new possible functional role of GALNTL6 rs558129, gut microbiome regarding short-chain fatty acid regulation and their anti-inflammatory and resynthesis functions. Nevertheless, further studies are required to understand the mechanisms involved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3031-3036
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Volume34
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anaerobic
  • Athletes
  • Lactate resynthesis
  • Microbiome
  • SCFA
  • Wingate

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