ACTN3 genotype in professional soccer players

Catalina Santiago ¹, Marta González-Freire ¹, Luis Serratosa ², Francisco J Morate ², Tim Meyer ³, Félix Gómez-Gallego ¹ and Alejandro Lucia ^1*

¹ Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain
² Real Madrid, Medical department, Spain
³ Institut für Sportmedizin, Universität Paderborn, Germany

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: alejandro.lucia{at}uem.es.

Accepted 29 May 2007

Abstract

We studied the frequency distribution of alpha-actinin-3 (ACTN3) R577X genotypes in 60 top-level Spanish professional soccer players. Their results were compared with those of 52 elite endurance athletes and 123 sedentary controls. The % distribution of RR and RX genotypes in soccer players (48.3% and 36.7%) was significantly higher and lower, respectively, from controls (28.5% and 53.7%) and endurance athletes (26.5% and 52%) (P = 0.041). Though with notable exceptions, elite soccer players tend to have the sprint/power ACTN3 genotype.

Key Words: R577X, genetics, muscle, performance, sports

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