The purpose of the present study was to identify the polygenic profile determining the potential for becoming a elite sprint/power athlete in Japanese population. 211 sprint/power (track and field) athletes (62 international, 72 national and 77 regional) and 649 Japanese controls were genotyped 22 polymorphisms which have been reported to be associated with sprint/power related phenotypes and are MAF . 5% in Japanese population according to HapMap data. Among 22 polymorphisms, genotype frequencies of 5 polymorphisms (rs1815739 ACTN3, rs699 AGT, rs41274853 CNTFR, rs7832552 TRHR and rs2228570 VDR) differed between international sprint/power athletes and controls at the P < 0.10 level. In order to assess the combined effect of these polymorphisms, total genotype scores (TGC) maximal value of 100 for the theoretically optimal polygenic score) for 5 polymorphisms were determined. Genotype score was assigned at each genotype based on most fitted genetic model and estimated contribution rate of each polymorphism to athlete status. TGS in international sprint/power athletes (59+/-17 [mean+/-SD]) was significantly higher than in controls (50+/-15), regional (50+/-13) and national (51+/-16) athletes (P < 0.05). The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed a significant discriminating accuracy of the TGS (AUC: 0.65 [95% CI: 0.57-0.72]). The contribution of the TGS to international athlete status was 6.2%. These results suggest that these 5 previously published polymorphisms partially contribute to international sprint/power athlete status.
© Copyright 2012 Sport Science Research. Waseda University. All rights reserved.