Sport changes DNA after a short time

Even a short sports training changes the DNA and increases the performance

07.03.2012

Already a short sports training releases in humans gene blocks in the cells of the muscles. An international research team from the Danish University of Copenhagen and the Swedish Karolinska Institute found this out in a joint study. Although the effect is not permanent, it can be explained why continuously practiced sport significantly reduces the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and other serious illnesses.

Even a first-time training can directly influence the DNA positively. The motion unit does not alter the genetic information but removes special switch molecules that otherwise shut down genes for muscle building. In other words, the intense movement units release blockade attachments to the DNA in the muscle cells. So more gene information can be scanned than it was before. This is proven by a study project with 14 male and female subjects of an international research consortium. „This effect is not permanent“, the researchers write in the scientific journal "Cell Metabolism“, However, it is now possible to explain why regularly practiced sports protect against heart disease, circulatory problems and diabetes. If sport is performed continuously and slowly increasing, a physical fitness is established.

Before-after effect detectable by muscle samples
14 non-trained women and men participated in the study. All participants should first exercise on a fitness machine, until they had consumed about 400 calories. Before beginning and at the end of the training session, the scientists biopsied minimal tissue samples from the stressed muscles. In the laboratory, they now used genetic engineering methods to examine the DNA of the cells. So could one „Before and after effect“ be determined.

Which genes of the genome are activated in the cells depends, for example, on where the blocking attachments are located at the DNA. The tiny hydrocarbon groups block the pathway of the cell system, hampering the complete read-out of genes. Before the study, the researchers still believed that the annexes are relatively stable and then be changed in the short term only by environmental impact. „However, according to our results, the patterns in the genome are far more variable than previously thought“, explained Romain Barrés from the University of Copenhagen. But even a short period of intense muscle strain seems sufficient to solve many gene blockades.

Before-after effect detectable by muscle samples
14 non-trained women and men participated in the study. All participants should first exercise on a fitness machine, until they had consumed about 400 calories. Before beginning and at the end of the training session, the scientists biopsied minimal tissue samples from the stressed muscles. In the laboratory, they now used genetic engineering methods to examine the DNA of the cells. So could one „Before and after effect“ be determined.

Which genes of the genome are activated in the cells depends, for example, on where the blocking attachments are located at the DNA. The tiny hydrocarbon groups block the pathway of the cell system, hampering the complete read-out of genes. Before the study, the researchers still believed that the annexes are relatively stable and then be changed in the short term only by environmental impact. „However, according to our results, the patterns in the genome are far more variable than previously thought“, explained Romain Barrés from the University of Copenhagen. But even a short period of intense muscle strain seems sufficient to solve many gene blockades.

First effects already shortly after the sport
According to the results, the end of the blockade and thus the reaction of the DNA to the exercise happens quite quickly. Already in the laboratory after the first biopsy, the researchers were able to detect in the samples the dissolution of some DNA attachments. Three hours after the end of the training, further attachments had disappeared in the next muscle cell sample. The observation shows that „Our muscles adapt to what we are doing right now. The lifting of the blocks is one of them“, says study leader Juleen Zierath from the Swedish Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The ongoing changes in the DNA in the cells of the muscles are the first step in genetic reprogramming, so that the muscles withstand the demands and thus become stronger. First and foremost, attachments are removed from the sports units that previously blocked metabolic genes.

Similar result with administration of caffeine
The scientists discovered a similar result when they contaminated isolated muscle cells in the lab dish with caffeine. "Apparently, the stimulating-looking caffeine mimics the effect of muscle contractions that are typical in sports," the researchers suggest. The effect does not mean that people just have to drink coffee instead of exercising their muscles. Without sports, this positive effect can not be fully established.

The study showed that human genomes are constructed much more dynamically than previously thought. The changed conditions that a person undergoes during sports training leads to better supply of the muscles and to increased performance and performance „that benefits the health“. This is how the researchers sum up: „Exercise is medicine and apparently it can reprogram our genome very quickly to physical fitness“. (Sb)

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Image: Petra Bork