Influence of DAT1 Promotor Methylation on Sports Performance.

Anna Grzywacz,Katarzyna Leźnicka,Bożena Mroczek,Paweł Cieszczyk,Jolanta Masiak,Agnieszka Boroń,Monika Michałowska-Sawczyn,Jolanta Chmielowiec,Grzegorz Trybek,Krzysztof Chmielowiec

doi:10.3390/genes12091425

Abstract

In the mammalian genome, DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism involving the transfer of a methyl group onto the C5 position of the cytosine to form 5-methylcytosine. DNA methylation regulates gene expression by recruiting proteins involved in gene repression or by inhibiting the binding of transcription factors (TFs) to DNA. As there are still many questions concerning the role of methylation in creating personality, we concentrated on searching for such associations. The research group was 100 sports male subjects (mean age = 22.88, SD = 6.35), whereas the control group included 239 healthy male volunteers matched for age (mean age = 21.69, SD = 3.39), both of European origin. The methods used in our research were as follows: DNA isolation, methylation-specific PCR, sequencing chromatophores, all conducted according to the manufacturer’s procedure. To evaluate personality traits, the NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI) and STAI Inventory were used. We observed the existence of a statistically significant correlation for all the aspects of personality covered and CpG islands’ methylation. Nonetheless, we think that the tested group and the number of tested promotor islands in the DAT1 gene are still too small to make explicit conclusions, so it needs further profound analysis.

Highlights

As our knowledge about methylation in particular promotor regions among athletes is still in its infancy, in hereto research, we presented its influence and correlation in connection with personality traits, simultaneously asking if the differences between individual
We found a significant result in the interactions for the NEO FFI Openness scale and DAT1 promotor methylation status of the CpG PAX5 sites
DAT1 promotor methylation status of the CpG PAX5 sites 22 (F2,332 = 16.39, p = 0.0001), We found a significant result when comparing for NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI) Openness scale for DAT1 accounting for 4.7% of the variance, respectively

Summary

Introduction

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism involving the transfer of a methyl group onto the C5 position of the cytosine to form 5-methylcytosine. DNA methylation regulates gene expression by recruiting proteins involved in gene repression or by inhibiting the binding of transcription factors (TFs) to DNA. One distinct feature of transcription factors is that they have DNA-binding domains that give them the ability to bind to specific sequences of DNA called enhancer or promoter sequences

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Discussion

Conclusion