Researchers have found a gene that increases muscle strength when triggered by physical activity, has the potential to open the way for the development of therapeutic drugs that imitate some of the benefits of sports.
The findings of this research were published in the journal ‘cell metabolism’. This study shows how various types of exercise change molecules in our muscles, resulting in the discovery of new C18orf25 genes that are activated with all types of exercise and are responsible for promoting muscle strength. Animals without C18orf25 have poor exercise performance and weaker muscles.
Project leader Dr. Benjamin Parker said by activating the C18orf25 gene, the research team could see the muscles become much stronger, without them becoming bigger.
Identifying this gene can affect the way we manage healthy aging, muscle atrophy disease, sports science, and even livestock and meat production. This is because promoting optimal muscle functions is one of the best predictors of overall health,” said Dr. Parker.
We know that exercise can prevent and treat chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and many cancers. Now, we hope that by better understanding how various types of sports have the effect of promoting this health at the molecular level, the field can work to make to make treatment choices new and better available. “
In this study, the collaboration between Dr. Parker and Professor Erik Richter and Bente Kiens from Copenhagen University, Denmark, the team can identify molecular equality and differences between various types of sports in human muscle biopsy by analyzing protein and how they change in cells.
To identify how genes and protein are activated during and after different exercises, we do human skeletal muscle analysis from cross-over intervention endurance, sprints, and resistance exercises,” said Dr. Parker.
Experimental design allows researchers to compare the response of the signaling between the training modality in the same individual, relative to their pre-training level. This means they can monitor how a person responds to various types of sports directly in their muscles.
What is important, this also allows the research team to identify genes and proteins that consistently change in all individuals and all types of sports, which lead to the discovery of new genes.