Mitochondrial haplogroups associated with elite Japanese athlete status.
OBJECTIVE
It has been hypothesised that certain mitochondrial haplogroups, which are defined by the presence of a characteristic cluster of tightly linked mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms, would be associated with elite Japanese athlete status. To examine this hypothesis, the frequencies of mitochondrial haplogroups found in elite Japanese athletes were compared with those in the general Japanese population.


METHODS
Subjects comprised 139 Olympic athletes (79 endurance/middle-power athletes (EMA), 60 sprint/power athletes (SPA)) and 672 controls (CON). Two mitochondrial DNA fragments containing the hypervariable sequence I (m16024-m16383) of the major non-coding region and the polymorphic site at m.5178C>A within the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene were sequenced, and subjects were classified into 12 major mitochondrial haplogroups (ie, F, B, A, N9a, N9b, M7a, M7b, M*, G2, G1, D5 or D4). The mitochondrial haplogroup frequency differences among EMA, SPA and CON were then examined.


RESULTS
EMA showed an excess of haplogroup G1 (OR 2.52, 95% CI 1.05 to 6.02, p=0.032), with 8.9% compared with 3.7% in CON, whereas SPA displayed a greater proportion of haplogroup F (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.28 to 6.07, p=0.007), with 15.0% compared with 6.0% in CON.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that mitochondrial haplogroups G1 and F are associated with elite EMA and SPA status in Japanese athletes, respectively.
Mikami
Eri
E
Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan.
Fuku
Noriyuki
N
Takahashi
Hideyuki
H
Ohiwa
Nao
N
Scott
Robert A
RA
Pitsiladis
Yannis P
YP
Higuchi
Mitsuru
M
Kawahara
Takashi
T
Tanaka
Masashi
M
D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008931:Mitochondria, Muscle / Q000235:genetics; D009245:NADH Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D009245:NADH Dehydrogenase; C521326:NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2, human