8:

Question 1

What is a gene found in sprinters?

Answer 1

ACTN3 gene

Question 2

What is a gene found in endurance, running and mounting people?

Answer 2

ACE I gene, ACE II genotype

Question 3

Compared with the normal population, the rower had an excess of…

Answer 3

ACE I allele and ACE II genotype

ACE I allele is a genetic marker that might be associated with athletic excellence

Question 4

alpha-actinin-3

Answer 4

a-Actinins are a family of actin binding proteins related to dystrophin

• expressed in FT muscles
• highly conserved protein
• the R577X polymorphism [encoded gene (ACTN3)]
• Both male and female elite sprint athletes have significantly higher frequencies of the 577R allele than do controls
• is associated with elite athletic performance, and differences in isometric and dynamic muscle strength
• more studies are required.

Question 5

Myosin heavy chains (MHC)

Answer 5

• rate limiting enzyme in the breakdown of ATP (force generation)
• relaxation times differ
• most differences are confined to regions of biological significance ( ATP binding pocket, the actin binding cleft, and two hinge regions )
• expression influenced in several ways

Question 6

Myostatin

Answer 6

Member of TGFb superfamily
Negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth

Inhibits satellite cell differentiation
•More Myostatin—-less muscle
•Less myostatin (or a non functional one, from a mutation)—– more muscle

blocks protein synthesis
activates protein degradation

Question 7

Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy

Answer 7

a single base pair mistake (X)

Dystrophin (rotein is located primarily in muscles used for movement (skeletal muscles) and in heart (cardiac) muscle)

Question 8

Mitochondrial Inheritance

Answer 8

contains DNA
16,569 bp long, double stranded,
- encodes 13 mRNA genes,
-two rRNAs and 22 organelle-specific tRNAs
----- into 13 proteins

Maternal-from egg only

Question 9

Adaptation

Answer 9

• Critical Periods
• Sensitive Periods
• Implications

Question 10

Critical periods

Answer 10

• a fixed period of time in development when certain experiences had to occur in order for development to proceed normally.
• a time during which certain experiences absolutely must occur if development is to proceed normally

Question 11

Sensitive Periods

Answer 11

a time when the child is especially receptive to certain kinds of environmental experiences and it is the ideal time to provide them, but the parameters for when they must be provided are broader.

Question 12

Epigenetics

“in addition to, or above the genome”

Answer 12

to changes in gene expression.
These changes may remain through cell divisions for the remainder of the cell’s life.
DNA methylation- shuts down a gene

Neither Nature nor Nurture is greater since genes and the environment are inexplicably linked through the epigenome.

Question 13

Trainable Factors

Answer 13

Fibre diameter, sarcomeres
–Intra- and inter- muscular co-ordination
–Nerve impulse frequency
–Elasticity
–Energy stores, enzymes
–Capillary density

Question 14

Less (non)-trainable Factors

Answer 14

–Number of fibres

–Fibre structure (“ST or FT”)