Role of Chromosome 14 in the Genetic Basis for Endurance Exercise Capacity and Responses to Training in Mice

Abstract

A significant quantitative trait locus (QTL) for exercise capacity and a suggestive QTL for the change in exercise capacity were identified previously on mouse Chromosome 14 (Chr 14). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Chr 14 in endurance exercise capacity and responses to training in mice. Exercise capacity and training responses were measured in chromosome substitution strain (CSS) mice derived from PWD/PhJ (PWD) and C57BL/6J (B6) inbred strains, denoted as B6.PWD14. These mice carry Chr 14 from the PWD donor inbred strain on the genetic background of a host B6 inbred strain. Twelve‐week‐old male and female mice from each strain (B6, PWD, B6.PWD14) were assigned to sedentary control (SED) or exercise training (EX) groups (n=6/group/sex). All mice completed a graded exercise test before and after the exercise‐training period to determine endurance exercise capacity. Responses to training were calculated from the difference in exercise capacity between post‐ and pre‐training graded exercise tests. EX mice completed a 4‐week training program consisting of treadmill running 5 days/week, 60 min/day at a final intensity equivalent to approximately 65% of the maximal work‐load (speed and incline) attained during the graded exercise test. Overall, there were significant effects of sex and strain on body mass and exercise capacity (pre and post), but only a significant effect of sex on responses to training in EX mice. In male mice, there were no significant differences in endurance exercise capacity or responses to training between B6 and B6.PWD14 mice. In contrast, female B6.PWD14 mice had higher pre‐ and post‐training endurance exercise capacity than female B6 mice. However, there were no significant differences between mice from these strains for responses to training. These data demonstrate that PWD alleles on Chr 14 significantly affect pre‐ and post‐training endurance exercise capacity in a sex‐specific manner. Furthermore, these data suggest that Chr 14 contains genetic factors influencing endurance exercise capacity, but not the responses to training in these strains of mice.Support or Funding InformationSupported by NIH R01 HL085918, APS William Townsend Porter Pre‐doctoral Fellowship (JA), and Texas A & M University Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS).This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.