Gym or Genetics?

Who needs the gym, when you can work on genetics? According to an article,  researchers at Salk Institute, as well as two Swiss Institutions, suppressing a natural muscle-growth inhibitor can possibly lead to treatments for age-related or genetic related muscle degeneration. The study was performed using mice and genetically altering a F2 generation to suppress the NCoR1 receptor that inhibits the ability for muscle tissue to buildup. With absence of NCoR1, the mice were twice as strong, and able to perform physical activities for longer and faster than mice without suppressed NCoR1. The results of this experiment could be used to help elderly with muscle weakness. The better understanding of repressing certain genes involved with muscle development, can lead to possibility or many therapeutic applications as well, which could eventually lead to developing a treatment for genetic disorders such as muscular dystrophy. The original Journal article about this study can be found here.