Genotypic and allelic distribution of the ACE, ACTN3, and IL6 genes in athletes of Artistic Gymnastics and Swimming in the department of Norte de Santander, Colombia

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to report the allelic and genotypic frequencies of ACTN3, ACE and IL6 genes in Colombian high performance athletes in the sports of artistic gymnastics and swimming, to observe if there is any relationship between athlete status, sport and the polymorphisms found. The study included twenty-one gymnasts and twenty-one swimmers. The ACE and IL6 genes were genotyped by PCR and polyacrylamide electrophoresis, the ACTN3 gene was genotyped by PCR-RFLP. In the ACE gene, a greater number of genotypes with the D allele was observed in both sports, for the ACTN3 gene a predominance of the RX genotype was observed in both gymnastics and swimming, in the IL6 gene the most predominant characteristic is the total absence of the CC genotype. For the ACE gene, the highest allelic frequency is that of the D allele in both sports, the IL6 gene shows a high presence of the G allele, for the ACTN3 gene, in gymnastics the highest frequency of carriers is observed in the R allele and for the sport of swimming the majority is carrying the X allele. Significant differences were observed when comparing the genotypic and allelic frequencies between the population of gymnasts and swimmers only in the ACTN3 gene, the ACE gene and IL6 did not present significant differences between the populations. In conclusion, the genotypes presented by the athletes correspond to the types of efforts of their sport, gymnastics with predominance in strength and power and swimming with an orientation towards both phenotypes, showing a pleiotropic effect of the ACE and ACTN3 genes.