
On November 29, 2008, an article was released by the New York Times in regards to genetically testing the athletic potential of children. This genetic test is supposedly able to determine which sports suit the talents of children. Atlas Sports Genetics is offering this test for a whopping $149, in which the process includes swabbing inside the child’s cheek and along the gums to collect DNA and then submitting that culture to a lab for analysis of ACTN3, one of more than 20,000 genes in the human genome. The purpose of the test is to find out whether a person would be best at speed and power sports such as football, or endurance sports like distance running.
The executives at Atlas recognize the limitations of their test, but they believe it could provide guidelines for placing children, from infancy to about 8 years old, in sports. It is believed its best to conduct the test during this age period because it would be most ideal to condition children from a young age. However, some are skeptical of how necessary and accurate this test really is. It has been known that athletic performance has been found to be affected by at least 200 genes.
A 2003 study discovered the link between ACTN3 and the athletic performance of elite athletes was published in 2003 by researchers primarily based in Australia. Researchers looked at the gene’s combinations, of which one copy was provided by each parent. The R variant of ACTN3 induces the body to produce alpha-actinin-3, a protein found specifically in fast-twitch muscles. There are two types of fast-twich muscles, which are glycolytic and oxidative. Both of which are capable of the forceful, quick contractions necessary in speed and power sports. The X variant prevents production of the protein.
The ACTN3 research study examined 429 elite white athletes, including 50 Olympians, and found that 50 percent of the 107 sprint athletes had two copies of the R variant. What’s more, no female elite sprinter had two copies of the X variant and all male Olympians in power sports had at least one copy of the R variant. Close to 25 percent of the elite endurance athletes had two copies of the X variant, which was only slightly higher than the control group at 18 percent. As a result, it can be inferred that people with two X copies are more likely to be suited for endurance sports. However, there are always those athletes that prove science, and their genetics, wrong. There was a study done on an Olympic long jumper from Spain, who presented no copies of the R variant, indicating that athletic success may be affected by a combination of genes and factors such as environment, training, nutrition and luck.
And so, there is the argument that the test may not be the best approach and is perhaps unnecessary. Some researchers feel that children should be allowed to pick what sport they want to play rather than be pre-picked for a certain sport. Personally, I agree with this school of thought because this is just one study on one of many genes correlated with athletic capability. So it’s still very early to put these studies into effect.
Secondary Article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/89
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