The association of gene polymorphisms with the muscle fiber type composition

: Muscle fiber composition of m. vastus lateralis has significant individual variability mainly depending on genetic factors. Present study shows analysis of association between polymorphisms of three muscle performance-related genes and muscle fiber type composition in 48 young healthy men. DNA was obtained from mouthwash samples by alkaline extraction. Polymorphism determination of PPARalpha, ACE and ACTN3 genes was performed using polymerase chain raction. Muscle fiber typing from m. vastus lateralis was performed using immunohistochemistry method. We found an association of increased frequency of intron 7 G allele of PPARalpha gene (93.9% vs 60.0%) and D allele of ACE gene (68.8% vs 34.4%) in the group with the highest proportion of slow-twitch fibers (56-70%) compared to the group with the lowest proportion (25-43%). Thus, PPARalpha and ACE genes can be considered as potential candidate genes for muscle fiber type determination.